The Path of The Dragons
by xRainbowAJx
Summary: A family tied together not by blood, but by coincidence is finally settling in Skyrim, but when three of them turn out to be Dragonborn and each are drawn onto their own paths, they forced to face more than Sybel's need to bury trashed apple dumplings.
1. Chapter 1

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Title Unknown

Chapter One

**Helgen** was the key place for them to day. Nerana had needed some more books before returning to Saarthal to help Tolfider and Arniel Gane with the site. Of course, Nerana being Nerana she forgot just about everything she ever needed. At the moment she had Drayce in tow as her mule, holding every scroll, book and potion that had been bought with not Nerana's own money, but Drayce's. Being the youngest child of a family of orphans had its perks.

"Are we done yet?" Drayce asked irritably. Nerana looked over at her. Drayce had the sides of her head shaved in the style of a Mohawk, but her middle hair was long enough to reach past her ass without being in a braid, but in one it rested at the top of her ass. She had brown eyes that looked black at all times, her eyes rimmed in black with kohl and her lids covered in dark red minerals made from a special plant in Hammerfell. Three small scars rested below her right eye from a fight with Da'Virr, their Khajiit sister.

Her sister by coincidence was wearing a strange combination of armor, melted and twisted together thanks to their brilliant brother Theodane, otherwise known as Dane or as Drayce liked to call him Dancer. Her chest plate was ebony, skillfully crafted to shape her upper body and arms and move like the very thin fabric Drayce wore underneath. The ties where they drew together were at her side, made with a special black silk that had been found through a Khajiit caravan. Her pant legs was a strong leather dipped in black as well with more ebony thinly made to travel down her thighs to her knees and then slipping into her boots. Easily flexible. She had a thick fur cape that traveled down to almost her kneels that concealed her heavy ebony war axe. Her arrows were at her side dangling loosely while her box was over her shoulder.

Ebony was her sister's favorite metal. It was pretty obvious she was made of wealth. Then again she was highly known throughout the Aldmeri Dominion and Hammerfell for her jobs well done. She was strong and fierce. Another reason why she was carrying all the books and potions instead of Nerana. She didn't do hard labor. She did thinking and magic.

"Don't be such a milk drinker." Nerana twisted back to skip to the opening gate of Helgen.

"There is nothing wrong with drinking milk. It's good for you." Several Imperial guards looked over at Drayce and laughed until Drayce penned them with a look that can kill. It stopped their laughter almost instantly. It was enough to make Nerana laugh. Her sister was a scary woman.

"Can we go into Whiterun for just a second on the way back. I haven't been able to get a look at Arcadia's Cauldron. She might have some firesalts and I need some for my latest recipe." It was a long shot, but she tried anyway.

"No." It was almost instant. Drayce refused to enter Whiterun under any circumstances until the Jarl was killed or removed from his position. He had a hard on where Drayce was concerned. Something about her killing his brother.

"I don't like going with Sybel. He sits there and flirts with the girl who runs the food stand in the marketplace and makes me look like an idiot when he gets shot down." Nerana whined.

Drayce was about to whip the book pile at Nerana. "I had to sell my soul to Sithis to pay for all your shit. Including that fancy bullshit robe you're wearing."

"but-"

"No, Nera." Drayce watched her younger sibling put her hands on her hips and stare her down. Well up. There was a good six inch difference with the shoes that Drayce wore. Nerana was naturally a small nord. Garret claimed it being not fed enough or her not eating enough green vegetables and too many sweet rolls. A funny thing since they only went to Skyrim a few times in their life so far. Nerana had pure white hair that fell to the middle of her back. Her skin was a pale as Drayce's own. Her eyes were an icy blue that made her look more like an ice princess with her naturally high cheek bones and delicate pixy-like features.

She wore a piece made from the Aldmeri Dominion that had cost her a good two paychecks for very high profile kills. The neck piece was high in the back and gradually got lower until it melded down into the corset that was low cut in the front. It showed off enough skin to make Garret kill any man who even stared in Nerana's direction. The material was of the same ebony, as fluid as Drayce's own. The joints at the shoulders were made of dark royal blue leather while the sharp angles of the thicker metal gauntlets, boots and separate neck piece were a deep rich purple. The corset stopped at the top of her hips where a belt overlapped a connecting apron of thicker ebony sides and the blue leather front that stopped mid shin. To top off the heartbreak of an empty coin purse she had a light ebony mail made to dangle at the front of the blue leather and the very top of the ebony sides for visual effect. She looked empty handed but in reality she carried to two ebony daggers crafted by Dancer hidden at her thighs under the apron.

Nera went to argue with Drayce when the wagons started pulling into Helgen. They were prisoners tied up in the back, some in Stormcloak uniform and some in ragged tunics. Nera looked for a second before trying to return to the subject of Whiterun, but Drayce walked away, following the wagons.

"Don't walk away from me!" She shrieked.

Heads turned from the porches on the road, but Drayce ignored them and continued walking. It wouldn't have been easier if she didn't have books up to her chin, but beggars couldn't be choosers at this point and she really wanted to see who was dying. Nera followed behind until they were at the front of the tower with a clear view of all the wagons lining up and Imperial generals with their archers ready and lists at hand. Nera stopped at Drayce's left side, her face red with anger.

"I want to go to-" Drayce sshed her before she go finish.

"I want to see who is going to die. It's always a beautiful morning with death is done early."

"You're a sick being." Nera sneered.

Drayce nodded, but remained silent as the people were unloaded from their wagons. She didn't recognize any of them, though one did have a familiar hair color. She knew it was none of her siblings for the very fact that none were female and the only one to ever get arrested in their family was Da'Virr. The Imperials began to name off the prisoners.

"Ulfric Stormcloak." The male Imperial spoke. Nera let out a gasp of shock as she grabbed onto Drayce's arm.

"Knock over the books and die." Drayce snapped.

"Don't be so cranky. I would pick them up." Drayce's glare went right over her head as she asked, "How did they catch Ulfric?"

"How the fuck am I suppose to know how they got him. That's his problem, not ours." Drayce shifted away from Nera to put some space between her and her grasping hands. "Now pay attention." Because of Nera's loud mouth she missed one of the names, but it wasn't like it mattered. It was time to see some heads roll.

Nera felt the need to jab her fist into Drayce's side for being so snappy, but she refrained from it to keep from causing a scene and being the next one to be added to the Imperials headless count. Plus something in the air shifted and the hairs at the back of her neck rose. Something wasn't right. She looked around, but saw nothing besides a man that tried to run from his death sentence. The archers shot him down and he was dealt with, but the feeling didn't go away. It was as if the air was charged with sparks, catching onto her and jumping off.

Something was about to go wrong, and she had a feeling it wasn't because of an innocent man was about to see the end of an already bloodied war axe. She took another step to be by Drayce's side as a piercing roar ripped through the air and the earth trembled at their feet. A book fell from the top of Drayce's pile while a huge Dragon landed at the top of the tower in front of them. The feeling he gave off was indescribable. His body massive and covered with what looked like sharp scales made of ebony.

"Sweet mother of Talos." Drayce spoke. The dragon let loose another roar as villagers took off screaming in every direction. Drayce backed up, stumbling when her foot caught onto to Nera's. "tower," was her singled command. Nera nodded and turned to the tower that had been behind them. They ripped through the door, Drayce dropping more of the books in her arms as they raced up the stone steps to the top of the tower. There was yelling from the soldiers and prisoners below, but that was the least of her concern.

"Where now, we are dragon food." Nera looked behind at her sister who was now holding about four books now from what use to be about ten, and was charging at her. "What are you doing?" The last word came out on a scream as Drayce shoved them over the tower wall. They hit the ground hard while books rained upon them. Drayce rolled gracefully to a stand, but not gracefully enough not to break something in the satchel at her side. The agony of not knowing which potion had met it's untimely fate was almost unbearable as the pain in her back at the moment.

"Come on," Drayce was already over to her and pulling her to her feet.

"You just tackled me off a tower and I need a minute to fix myself before running wild through a forest of roots we will most likely trip over." She kneeled a bit before focusing on her hands and letting her healing abilities come forth and run through her body.

"How about give me a little of your healing hand?"

"How about not using me as a haystack next time?" Drayce shrugged her shoulders before grabbing hold of Nera's wrist and tugging her down the hill. "My books!"

"You don't need them!"

"Yes I do! I will forget about which I need!" Nera yanked her hand out of Drayce's grip as she returned to the scattered books and collected them.

"There is a dragon and you are worried about your fucking books?"

"I don't want to buy them again." Replied Nera as she jogged back over to Drayce.

"You didn't even pay for them!" The roar of the dragon sounded shortly after and it was suddenly a hell of a lot hotter than it had been before. "Never mind, let's go." They took off downhill and in the direction of Riverwood and Whiterun.

**The** place they called home here in Skyrim was a cave. The only entrance hidden at the base of the mountain near Whiterun. The river ran next to it, the door hidden by a moving rock door that was pressed against the flat side of the mountain, a few trees decorating its area. The button to open the door was hidden in the tree growing next to the door, a false panel that blended into the bark covered it and was lifted in order to reach in and pull the handle.

Once the handle was released it slid back into place and the false panel was replaced as the sound of the rock sinking into the ground rang through the air. Nera entered first and Drayce closed the entrance by pulling the handle on the inside. The cave started off as a bit a of narrow tunnel that opened into a huge room with ceilings so high it looked as if there was a sky of its own. There was running water farther into the cave, but at the moment the first thing you say was an overly large dining table and well carved chairs all around it. There were plates stacked neatly in the middle with goblets turned upside down to avoid any critters from crawling into them. To the right of the entrance the wall was lined with tall shelves filled with cheese, Sweet Rolls, boiled crème treats and fruits galore with the smaller wardrobe that shelved sacks of flours and jazbay grapes. There was an oven on the left side with a cooking pit that was mainly used by Sybel. He was the only one of them that had cooking skills.

The ground was cold and wet all the time, but there was light at the side walls and the other wall of rock behind the dining table. There was an opening in the rock wall that lead into several other rooms. It was more of a mountain inside a mountain, but if you followed the path all other way out you found the spring and indoor waterfall that housed the very annoying ninroot and lots of lost salmon.

The place was found by Garret when he first arrived back in Skyrim. He sent for Dancer to help him deck it out in fancy home wear and before they knew it there was bedrooms, an armory with a little forge by the waterfall and there little dinging/living area. There were only three bedrooms inside the mini mountain within the cave, but each room housed two full sized beds.

"Sybel, you here?" Nera went off skipping to her room while Drayce removed her cape and set it on the tallest chair of the table.

"No, I'm in the Void. Where else would I be these days." His reply came from above and she looked above to see him resting at the top of the mini mountain. He was a younger, shorter version of his older brother. His face softer, his hair longer and trussed up. Instead of a full beard like his brother he sported a balbo(think van dyke or johny depp facial hair). His skin was darker than theirs and he was leaner rather than built. He wore a loose fitted tunic with long sleeves in a mahogany color, his pants leather, dipped in black. He was the lazy boy of their family. He killed when he needed to, but other than that he just kind of went with the flow.

"Honestly Sithis would kick your dumb ass out." She said under her breath.

"So what's going on?"

"Went to Helgen to get some shit for her because Riverwood Trader never has anything. The Imperials were doing executions."

"Really, who was there? Anyone we know in particular?"

"Ulfric Stormcloak."

"The man who shouted the High King to pieces?" Drayce nodded. "Didn't Garret go up to Solitude for a couple of months?"

"Yeah, he was staying at the Winking Skeever. He probably got to get up and close and the High King when Ulfric had at him." Drayce entered the tunnel and went into the room she shared with Sybel. Dancer refused to share a room with her or Da'Virr. It had originally been Sybel with Dancer, Garret with Nerana and Drayce with Da'Virr, but then Sybel decided to die Dancer's hair with fire salts and the lotion that Nerana had made for dry skin. It forced them all to move to their current rooms because Sybel was too afraid to fuck with Drayce.

In her room she stripped out of her armor and placed it carefully on the mannequin next to her bed and then changed into a simple pant and belted tunic with leather boots before walking back into the dining area. Sybel was now at the table with a Sweet roll at hand as he tilted the chair back and balanced it on its hind legs. Drayce took the seat where her cape rested while Nera entered and went over to grab an apple dumpling off the tall shelf.

"What do you think Garret's doing right now?" asked Sybel.

"Contemplating strangling my sisters." The growl came from the tunnel.

"Garret, your back!" Nera squealed in delight as she dropped the dumpling and jumped at him. Drayce turned around to see Garret wearing the Stormcloak uniform, and it was definitely not his size. Garrets six foot four made the uniform ride up to mid thigh almost as if he was just wearing his regular tunic and no pants. She was surprised that he even left wherever he was in it. The man's pride was unbelievable.

"Don't give me that." He grabbed Nera's underarms and set her down away from him before he walked over toward the rooms.

"What do you mean?" Nera followed his tracks.

"I was at Helgen! In that damned wagon with Ulfric!" He turned around and pinned Drayce with a murderous glare. "I heard you talk about it being a beautiful day when death is done early." He turned on Nera as she came even closer. "And what the fuck are you wearing?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Nera shot back.

"We didn't see you, at all." Drayce spoke.

"Is that my dumpling on the floor?" Sybel leaned over in his chair to survey the area by the tall shelves. "I'm heartbroken. I pour my love into this food and my apple dumpling is on the floor." They all ignored him of course.

"How could you not? I'm taller than Ulfric!" Garret disappeared into the halls, probably going into his room.

"I didn't see you and we were looking at Ulfric. You are obviously drinking way to much skooma. Leave that up to Da'Virr." Nera commented.

"How did you end up in that wagon anyway?" Drayce asked.

Sybel had gotten up at this point and walked over to the apple dumpling. He picked it up as if it were an infant and cradled it to his chest. He whispered, "It's okay. I know it hurts, but it will be over soon." He cooed at the apple dumpling as if it were a baby wailing in pain.

"How I ended up in the wagon is none of your concern and Sybel, stop talking to the food." Garret's voice was now distorted from the halls.

"You had to do something stupid to end up there without your armor. You're always armed." Nera took her seat next to Drayce while Sybel walked out of the room, still carrying the dumpling.

Drayce was silent for a second, before it dawned on her. "You were caught in bed with someone in Solitude!" She accused. Garret came in, now wearing his regular loose fitting clothes, his knife belt strapped low on his hips. He was built, and with his build and height he looked terrifying to some. He filled out his outfit well and according to most women he was a piece of Sovangarde they never wanted to let go. He had shorter black hair that was closer cut to his head with a full beard and scars that marred his entire body.

"Be quiet." He snapped.

"But, who really pays attention to people sleeping around unless they-You slept with High King's wife!" Nera caught on quickly. Drayce would have to make a mental note to throw Sybel and herself a party of being an awesome teacher in the ways of speech.

"It's none of your business so drop it." He grabbed a sweet roll and bit into the top where the cream was. He took his seat at the table. "I have to go to Whiterun to talk to Jarl about the little dragon problem you two ran out on." Garret looked around. "where did Sybel go?"

"He left the room with the apple dumpling," said Nera.

"Dammit, Sybel don't you dare bury another dumpling by the waterfall!" Garret left the room with his sweet roll on hand. Drayce looked over at Nera, a smile creeping on her lips.

"Did you see how small that uniform was on him?" Nera asked, giggling.

"Yup. I wish Da'Virr and Dancer were here so they could have enjoyed the sight." The last part of the sentence was spoken through breaks in her laughter. The uniform had been ridicously short on him. He was bulkier than most men.


	2. Chapter 2

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Two

**"I** need you to get my dragonplate armor." Garret was fixing his tunic around the cuffs at his wrists while Sybel was making some braided bread. The man's cooking was genius. Better than any gourmet chef he's had all throughout Tamriel.

"Why should I? You interrupted a funeral and disrespected the dead." Sybel was bent over the oven pulling out a piece to check it.

"It was a dumpling. They were never alive to begin with." Garret growled. This was all his fault for dropping him as a child. All his fault. He should have brought him to a temple to be blessed and healed after and maybe he wouldn't have ended up like a mini Sheogorath. Sybel now sported a sore spot at the back of his head in response to his psychosis. "Plus, Dane will have my balls served up to a giant if he found out I lost my armor."

"You should have never slept with Jarl Elisif. What were you thinking?" Sybel stuck the bread back into the oven and stood to his full six foot height. "I mean come on. There are so much more women out there. Hell I heard Khajiits and Argonians are good in bed."

"I could never get hard for a reptile or cat my friend. If you feel like you could do it, go right ahead. I'm not stopping you." Drayce was sleeping on her bed while Nera was napping on his own bed. He felt like he should go take a nap himself after running from Riverwood up here, but he was still hungry and he needed to get going soon. "Elisif was in need of attention. Torygg wasn't giving her enough of it so I decided I would. Older women are more experienced after all. Then Ulfric killed him and she just became needier for me. Why not?"

Women were great. Great to fight, eat and fuck. He wouldn't lie that he was a whore. He slept with women all the time. Sometimes he was paid to and sometimes he wasn't. Hell raising a bunch of orphans in your early teens made a man desperate. He had only been fourteen when his brother was born and a few months after that their parents were killed and he was forced to flee Skyrim to save himself. On the way he found warm beds and knowledgeable women who had no problem informing him on what his brother needed to it and how to keep him healthy. When there wasn't an open bed there was always an open temple for him to stay for a few nights.

Then he found Drayce in Falkreath, only three years old. Her parents were killed by skeevers in their sleep. When he happened upon them she had been playing in front of the hearth with dead skeevers around her and her mother laying in bed, her father by the door. How she was alive and how the skeevers was beyond him, but it did mean a possible home for him for them for awhile and a chance on getting a steadier income. Whoring though, it never went away. He liked it whoring so he remained whoring. Elisif had just been another client to whore himself out to while working up in Solitude.

"Did she even pay?" Sybel asked.

"She did, but all of it is with my armor at the Winking Skeever. I hope they didn't move it. I paid the owner extra to keep my stuff sealed. Only the Guild Master of the Thieves Guild himself can get at it."

He got ready to leave after another hour and a half passed. He exchanged his sheath and dagger for his better quality Dragonbone daggers he had hidden under his bed. His room, shared with Theodane, was spacious, his bed covered in his bear pelt blanket and Nera. Nothing was on his mannequin, but his wardrobe housed a variety of tunics, pants, boots and little things like his magic enhanced rings or daggers. Dane's side of the room housed a piece of glass and ebony mixed armor he was working on. The breast plate was made of glass while the sides and back where of ebony. There were vines carved into the front glass piece. The shoulders were spiked to the sides and also made with glass. The helmet was made from the same glass and ebony. The front piece that was pulled over the eyes, mouth and ears made of glass and shaped to remind him of the very dragon that attacked him in Helgen. The rest of the suit wasn't completed, but the supplies needed were by the forge and some refined malachite and moonstone here and there about the room.

He wasn't much for personal things, but his siblings were. Especially Dane. He found the child when he left Skyrim to High Rock with Sybel in one arm and Drayce in the other at the age of 15. He was living in the orphanage there. His parents left and he had never seen them since, and his white hair made him stick out along with the fire and passion to survive that burned in his eyes. He had adopted him after buying a small cottage to live in with the other brats. Dane had shown an interest in smithing and he taught what he knew(which had been the bare minimum at the time). Garret crouched in front of his bed and slipped out his display case from under the bed. Normally people only put one dagger or item in at a time, but he housed pairs of daggers in each display case. He grabbed his Dragonbone daggers and slipped the iron one's he had on him earlier into the case. Before leaving his room he woke Nera from her nap.

"What?" she asked, her voice still groggy and rough from sleep.

"I want you to change into something else before going out again." He spoke sternly. He knew she had a few outfits laying around. "And if you wear the mage robes I want you to wear the leather pants under them."

"Why? This outfit is prettier." She complained, rubbing her eyes.

"I don't care. I don't want you walking around looking available for men who walk by. They might just take it as if you want them even if you aren't wearing an amulet of Mara." He sat on the edge of the bed, checking his daggers. They were clean and sharpened. Heavier than the rest of his daggers they were less susceptible to damage then his others.

"I'm a mage. I can handle anyone who comes at me." Nera sat up next to him. The apron of her outfit was missing along with belt to leave just her corset and her leather pants and her boots on the floor next to his feet.

"And Drayce is a mercenary who can probably toss my ass across the river outside, but you still see that I make her cover skin as much as possible." He was proud that she did as well. The only skin ever seen with her outside the walls of their home was from the bottom of her neck where it met the shoulder and up. Most the time her face was even covered by the hood of her cape. Same with Da'Virr so he was good.

"You don't see what Drayce wears during some of her missions do you?" Nera slid over to the edge of the bed and gripped her boots. She slid them on with ease before she wiggled right next to Garret.

"Ssh. She doesn't show skin. Drayce is asexual." Nera shook her head at him laughing.

"You should see her and Da'Virr. I'm a priestess compared to them." Garret refused to believe that. All his sisters were asexual. They don't believe in physical attraction. He covered her mouth with his hand when she went to talk again.

"You are all going to start wearing priestess robes now. I can't risk you." He spoke. Nera laughed harder, grabbing onto his hand and pushing him away. "I have to go to Whiterun now. Promise me that you won't go out wearing that."

"Take me with you then. I need to go to Arcadia's Cauldron."

"No. I have business with the Jarl and I don't want him seeing that you are with me when I enter the village. Just in case he decides to hate me like he hates Drayce."

"Then no, I'm not changing." Nera sat up, but was yanked back down to the bed by Garret with a quick tug on her wrist.

"Seriously, Nera. You can go to Whiterun with Sybel or by yourself. I just can't be seen with you. Just take some of my coin and get what you need then leave."

"But I don't want to go by myself and I can't even make it into Arcadia's Cauldron before Sybel makes a fool out of himself. Please." She gave him her best puppy face, but Garret shook his head no. He wasn't going to cave on this. The last thing he needed was for his youngest sister to be attacked by hired thugs or assassinated by someone from the Dark Brotherhood because he would end up pissing off someone in the Jarl's court.

"No." He stood from the bed and straightened his shirt before flicking Nera in the middle of the forehead. "Change into something else, please."

He left the cave right after. The door had been closed behind him and set across the river, hopping from rock to rock. If he fell in it would be a repeat of one of Sybel's bad fishing days where Nera really got to practice her heal other spell. Once on the road he walked down to the Whiterun gate where the guard had tried to tell him "Official Business Only." After intimidating him a bit the man let him in. Come one. Of course he would. The Whiterun guard only came up to his shoulder and wasn't nearly as close to as bulky as Garret was.

He needed Dragonsreach so he asked for directions by the lovely(being sarcastic here) lady at the blacksmith shop to the right of the gate. He followed the path up into the market where he passed by meat and food stands and a smaller armors/weapons stand run by an old woman. He never really paid attention to Whiterun. Like Drayce, this was his least favorite place to be and he would much rather walk all the back to Solitude and risk his ass being thrown back into prison then hang around with all the conflicted baby's here.

The only people he could stand here were the companions, but he politely turned Aela and Kodlak down on joining them because he liked his mercenary work. He didn't rescue damsels in distress or beat someone up. Sybel would(then probably kill the damsel on the way back somehow), but not him. He walked up the steps past the dead tree and across the bridge to Dragonsreach door. Upon entering it was warm, but way too big for his liking. There were columns on either side of him to support the weight above them while another elderly woman to his right started to speak to him.

Ignoring her he walked up the steps and approached the blonde bearded Jarl at his seat. Too bad the dark elf at his side didn't agree and came at him. Leather studded armor and sword and shield greeted him before he could get within fifteen feet of the Jarl. "What's the meaning of this interruption? Jarl Balgruuf is not receiving visitors."

"I have news about the Dragon attack in Helgen."

"You know about Helgen? The Jarl will want to speak with you personally." No shit. The dark elf walked away from after saying he could approach. He walked up the Jarl leaning back in his chair. He was blonde, wearing nobleman's clothes and fur lined boots. He always hated blonde men. Something about them made them think they were the superior. So far Ulfric and Ralof had been the only ones to not show him that…yet.

He looked Garret down up and down slowly, measuring him. Well with his outfit now and the bar going through the top of his left ear. He probably looked like some pirate to him, wearing fancy clothes he stole off a ship. He might as well finish growing out his beard and braiding the middle parts with beads to complete the look with a fancy pirate hat. "So. You were at Helgen? You saw this dragon with your own eyes?"

"Yeah, it flew right over Helgen and attacked us."

"I wonder why you were there," mumbled the dark elf as she returned to the Jarl's side. She had brown hair and what seemed like soulless eyes in his opinion. All dark elves had their classic dark blue tinted skin. They were all superior minded. He remembered his clients in the Aldmeri Dominion Raven Rock. The men were assholes and the women were greedy bitches. Hell whenever he had to whore to an elf he had to drink himself stupid.

The Jarl looked over at his steward that was dressed in an ugly coat. It looked like it belonged covering hey in the farm, but hey, this was what Skyrim considered noblemen clothes. "What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?"

The dark elf stepped forward into the view of the Jarl and spoke, "My lord, we should send troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger, if that dragon is lurking in the mountains…"

The steward didn't let her speak any more but spoke himself. This will be interesting. "The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation! He'll assume we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him. We should not-"

"I'll not stand idly by while a dragon urns my hold and slaughters my people!" the jarl shouted. If he wanted to look my intimidating he should have gotten off his lazy ass and give a position of power, but then again this man was a nobleman and probably only knew swords play. Living just about everywhere you learned a lot more than just brawling and stabbing, but precision kills. Instead he seemed to slouch some more in his high backed seat. He shifted his head toward the dark elf. Maybe he should actually note their names. "Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once." Okay so bitchy dark elf was Irleth. Ugly name.

She nodded and accepted before leaving. The steward, not seemingly please excused himself. He watched the man walk past him, muttering under his breath about the Jarl being an idiot, but Garret would leave it alone. Unlike Sybel who would actually call him out on it and laugh while the poor man got beat to death in front of everyone…again, there was something that needed to be done to that child.

"Well done. You sought me out, on your own initiative." Not really… "You've done Whiterun a service, and I won't forget it." He motioned to a guard that carried a piece of armor. Too bad it was steel and he would rather set himself on fire then put it on his body. "Here, take this as a small token of my esteem." He took it so he didn't seem rude, but he kept it to his side. He would sell it to the bitchy blacksmith at the gate and give the money to Sybel to get some real food instead of pastries to eat and some mead. He was sick of water and milk.

"There is another thing you could do for me. Suitable for someone of your particular talents, perhaps." Which ones? The whore or the killer? The man finally stood up and made his way over to him, clasping a hand on his shoulder. Side to side Garret was taller than him. Not surprised. He started rambling on about dragons. Garret followed him over to the room to the right of them that housed a mage wearing black robes with a singular gold stripe starting at the middle of the chest and sliding off the left of his body. His hood was hiding his hair, but it was evident he was at least human in appearance.

Garret moved off to the side of the room, away from the Jarl when the mage turned on his. Farengar he believed his name was. "So the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons." He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked him over. What the fuck was up with everyone measuring him up. It was pretty evident upon meeting him he was one for hard labor and fighting. "Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me?"

"Fetch?" Garret felt a tic in his jaw as he balled his hands into fists. Don't grab the dagger. Don't grab it. "Does it look like I'm an errand boy?"

"Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not actually be there." Farengar added quickly. He pegged the Jarl with a look of murder.

"What does this have to do with do with dragons?" The dagger it was so close to his hands. He could just take them out. The mage was only across the desk after all. It would be no problem for him to just end his life, but instead he chose to listen to this many talk about fantasy bullshit, and blah, blah, blah. By the end of his talking Garret had somehow ended up accepting to get some Dragonstone.

Garret took off, steaming. He was not some fucking errand boy and here he was, off to going to Bleak Falls Barrow. He was not going until he had some decent armor. On the way out of Whiterun he sold it to the still snappy blacksmith bitch and then left. She didn't even have anything decent to buy off her. He was hoping for at least glass, but she had nothing stronger than superior steel at the moment. This bitch called herself a blacksmith?

He needed Dane up here to bitch smack some knowledge into her. He told her to forget it and made his way back up to their home.


	3. Chapter 3

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Three

**The** man in front of her wore what seemed like dull black leather. The front had belts that were strapped to his shoulders with pockets in the belts. He had a double belt at his waist that held a Glass dagger. He didn't seem much taller than Sybel, but he was definitely older. He had reddish brown hair that fell down to his shoulders with pale skin. He had a circle beard connected to a soul patch while the rest of his jaw was covered in a shadow of hairs. Da'Virr saw his dagger and just had to take it from him.

They were at the bottom along the canal, her tail wiggling back and forth as Da'Virr crouched and walked on the balls of her feet. She was almost an inch within touching the man at her front, her hand slowly reaching out to the blade at his left side. The money it would be worth almost made her drool as her nails came in contact with the strap that attached it to the belt.

The man wheeled on her so fast she didn't even realize she was pinned against the wall until it was too late. He looked at her with amusement twinkling in his green eyes. He was definitely around the age of Garret. Had to be. He might have looked young in the eyes, but she could see the very barest hint of crow's feet at his eyes.

"Were you trying to pick pocket me, lassie?" He had his forearm pressed against her throat, keeping her against the building and his free hand at his dagger.

"No, of course not? Why would you think that?" She spoke. He wouldn't believe her of course. People here in Skyrim took an instant dislike to her every time she removed her cowl to show she was a Khajiit. Screw them though. She couldn't change that she was born a Khajiit so might as well live it up while she could.

"I believe you were." He tilted his head to the right and looked at her. The amusement was still there and it kind of irked her. "You would have gotten it if I was just some patron enjoying a lovely stroll." He leaned back and removed his arm from her. "Speak to me in the morning. I'll be at the marketplace." He said with a wink before almost disappearing in the shadows. Holy mother of Elsweyr. Da'Virr glanced around the walkway and saw no one around. He just up and disappeared.

And he didn't even care that she had tried to steal from him! She shook her head as she headed to the stairs. She would stay at the inn for the night and see what this stranger had planned.

The morning came all too quick and she was out of her room and down in the basement of the cranky Argonians inn, stealing some apples and cheese for the road for when she left. She snuck out without a word and slid into the marketplace. What she wore didn't exactly help her blend. It was a black cowl that was pulled over far enough to cover the top half of her face while her mask hid the bottom part. She had on a tight leather suit that was put together from the silks made for her people. It was embroidered with the same black silk in the front to look more like a fancy party outfit than armor. Her daggers were at her back, help there with a silk belt that looped around the waist of her suit. They were Deadric daggers she stole off of some mercenary walking about Skyrim on her way here. Before she had glass, but now those were with the blacksmith Balimund she had met yesterday and she had some extra coin in her pocket.

The man from last stood in the middle of the marketplace and caught sight of her before she even entered the circle. He was no longer in the dull black leather he had been in the night before, but was wearing the clothes of a nobleman. It was a brown coat left open at the neck to show the tunic he had underneath it. It was closed at the belt where yet another dagger was at his side. "Never done an honest day of work in your life for all that coin you carry, ay lass?"

She glared at him but he would most likely be unable to see any real facial expressions through the mask and hood. "I have a little job for you." He grabbed her arm and drew her away from the people walking past. He lowered his head to her ear and whispered, "I need you to plant a stolen ring from Madesi's strongbox in Brand-Shei's pocket."

"Why?" Steal and then give to someone else. What the hell? What was she donating to the poor or something.

"Do you want a few extra coins or not?" He looked up and smiled and waved to a homeless person walking by. The person had white hair and was old and wrinkling. She sat down to the right of them on some ratted matt and asked any other passers for coin. Da'Virr nodded at Brynjolf. "Okay, lassie. Madesi's stand is over there with the jewelry display case. The strongbox is at the bottom. You can either pick it off him, he's the Argonian fellow over there, or you can pick the lock on the box." He pointed at the reptile standing at his stand. He wore a tunic that switched colors from blue to dark purple at the elbows. There was a vested material on his front made from an almost black, but had to be midnight blue in color rimmed with an inch of gold along the edges. He had lighter green skin at his neck, but his face was made of hunter green and light green, his eyes a blue that was so pale it seemed white.

"That is Brand-Shei." He pointed at the Dunmer. While most dark elves sported a dark blue skin, this elf had a dark green skin color. He had black straight hair that went down to his shoulders and he wore a bright red version of the outfit Madesi himself was wearing. The lack in diversity here was almost painful. Everyone looked and smelled the same. Even the clothes Brynjolf now wore made him blend in with the others. Her sister Nera would have a fit if she was forced to wear commoner clothes.

"What do you gain by having this done?" She hissed.

"Why do you care, ey?This is just simple coin." She took a step back to leave and turned slightly on her heal. "Fine. There is someone who wants to see him put out of business permanently." He answered. She let herself smile, knowing that he couldn't see it through her mask.

"How will I be getting the jewel when Madesi is standing at the front?"

"Leave that to me." He stepped away from her at that time and began to speak. "Everyone, everyone, gather round. I have something amazing to show you that demands your attention." She slid back into the crowd as they came closer and silently walked over to Madesi's stand. The necklaces in the case were gorgeous, the flawless gems shining as the sun hit them. She slid around to the back where Madesi had been standing and crouched slowly. She kept a careful eye on those around her as she attempted to open the sliding doors at the bottom. The door was locked so she pulled a lock pick out of her boot and got to work on unlocking the door.

Brynjolf voice could be heard faintly along with another's. "You need to hear this," said Brynjolf.

"Come on, Brynjolf. What is it this time?" another voice spoke.

"Patience, Brand-Shei. This is a rare opportunity, I wouldn't want you to get left out." It was the Dunmer. Nice to know he made peaceful talk with those he planned on ruining. She shook her head as she heard the lock click. It was simple enough. Smiling to herself she slid the door back to reveal the strongbox. The strongbox was locked but it was another simple lock, easily broken. It carried some coin, an amethyst and his silver ring. She pulled it out of the box along with the amethyst and gold and slid it into the hidden pocket at her hip.

"That's what you said about the wisp essence. That turned out to be crushed ninroot and water." Well it was his fault for not paying attention. She slowly closed the door back. With another glance she slid out from behind the stand and stood again. Brynjolf was still center of the attention and Brand-Shei seemed to be propped up against boxes.

"That was a simple misunderstanding. I assure you this is the real thing." She looked at him, but he didn't even glance her way. "Falmer blood elixir."

"Are you talking about the snow elves?" Brand-Shei questioned.

"The one and only. The mystical beings who lived in legends. Who mastered great magic. Image the power that coursed through their veins." She blanked the rest of what he spoke as she crouched behind the boxes. There was a gap that showed Brand-Shei's back. A perfect vantage for her. Everyone was up front and to his left and wouldn't bother looking over at the dark elf. Or at least, not behind him. She slipped the ring into the pocket on his vest before standing and walking away.

Brynjolf ended his conversation with the people almost instantly and they walked away calling him a con-artist and mumbling about how much of a liar he is. Da'Virr walked over to him slowly, not wanting people to think too much of mysteriously dressed woman in their town and why Brynjolf was talking to her. She was bumped into by a person walking back to their duties and she would have clawed their throat open if she had been in the mood to be arrested.

"Looks like I chose the right person for the job." Brynjolf noted. _Of course you did. I'm amazing. _She nodded. "and here you go, your payment. He stretched his hand out towards her with a coin purse and she gladly accepted it, opening her front of her tunic and dropping it in there to land wherever.

"Pleasure doing business with you." She spoke on a low purr.

"The way things have been going on around here it was a relief when our plan went on without a hitch." Brynjolf shifted on his feet and crossed his arms. He looked over towards Brand-Shei before looking back at her. "My organization has been having a run of bad luck, but I suppose that's just how it goes…but never mind that; you did your job and you did it well."

"Well of course. You already said it yourself. If you would have been an ordinary man I would have gotten that dagger." A wind swept through them and threatened to remove her hood. She caught it with nimble fingers and kept it in place until the wind stopped.

"I thought you weren't trying to steal anything from me?" Brynjolf was now smiling at her. That same look from last night was there. He still found her amusing. _Yeah, not so amusing when I scratched your eyes out._ "There's a lot more where that came from…if you think you can handle it."

"I can handle it." Her chest puffed with pride. One of her many sins. As her older sister would say in this case, 'May Talos forgive us.' Weird child, believing a man to become a god.

"All right then." He was now turned to his side. Brynjolf was going to pull the disappearing act again. "Let's try it out. The group I represent has its home in the rataways, beneath Riften, called the Ragged Flagon. Get there in one piece and we'll really see if you got what it takes."

"Oh I will." After stealing some more stuff…

Brynjolf turned from her and walked away before disappearing into the inn. She walked out of the marketplace as a guard passed her. She didn't want to seem nosy so she went over to the dark elf at the meat stand and pretended she was looking to buy something. "All right Brand-Shei, turn out your pockets, we know you have it."

"Have what? What in blazes are you talking about?" Brand-Shei demanded. She turned her head slightly. She could barely see the guard, but she could hear him slam his fists into the stand counter.

"Don't play stupid. Turn out your pockets now." There was some rustling of clothes as Brand-Shei replied claiming that he didn't know what was going on and he wanted to know.

"What is this ring? This isn't mine!" He spoke suddenly. Well. Good luck in jail.

Da'Virr thought about going to the Ragged Flagon right away. She even went down to the stairs to the properties that lined this cute little canal. She was just distracted by the pretty potion sign and thought, _well why not spoil myself a bit?_ She entered the store. Elgrim's Elixirs. Ugly name. These nords couldn't dress or name anything for their lives.

Entering the place there was an empty counter. To the right there were two chairs and a fireplace. It all seemed empty and no one even heard her come in. The store wasn't closed or else it would have been locked so she would have to be careful not to have someone like Brynjolf walk in on her raiding the shelves of its potions and ingredients.

She crouched quickly below the back of the counter, taking and sticking plants and minor potions into a small bag she pulled from the inside of her suit. It was thin enough to hide when empty, but it could carry and a lot of weight. Da'Virr was on the a fancy healing potion bottle when some black haired woman suddenly gasped. Da'Virr cursed. She was caught.

"You put that back! Guards!" she called, running to the door and opening it. An elderly woman stumbled into the room in shock, but it quickly veered to anger when she saw the bag of stolen goods in her right hand. Da'Virr felt her ears sag. Garret was not going to be happy about this.

**"So**…we are going to Riften next then?" Drayce and Sybel were practicing with their swords by the waterfall while Garret was quickly fixing a piece to her mages robe. Sybel had ripped it somehow, but refused to tell her why. Drayce refused to comment and Garret just shook his head. Since she had no needlework abilities she was having Garret fix it for.

"I don't think you need to go out that far. Just go to Windhelm." Sybel spoke.

"I was already there the other day with Drayce. We cleared out the Grey Quarter of any healing potions and then we saw this dying elf in the White Phial." Sybel jumped out of the way as Drayce swung the steel sword down towards his stomach. They were wearing light steel armor and using steel swords only to train. If she used her actual armor and Sybel decided he wanted to duke it out there would be a lot of bloodshed. It was originally Garret, Drayce and Sybel and they had been together the longest so they fought more like siblings than the rest of them. Especially Sybel and Drayce.

"Is that why you were surprised to see Ulfric at Helgen?" Garret asked.

"Yeah. I thought he would be with his advisor in battle Galmor Stone-First." Sybel pushed Drayce back and spun with a deadly swing of his blade. It would have cleaved anyone's head off, but Drayce was too fast. She dropped her bodyweight to the ground, her back taking the impact before springing back up a few feet away from Sybel. She was in a crouch, one hand on the ground and the other still holding her sword.

"A good nord leader will go into battle with his subjects and fight the dangers head on. Not to would make him a coward." Garret explained. He let out a curse and she looked over at him sitting on the ground. He pricked his finger with the needle he had been using and was now wagging his hand back and forth in effort to remove the sting. "It would be good that we all stay out of this fight between Ulfric and the Empire," he added.

"Aren't you helping the Jarl of Whiterun right now though?" Sybel asked.

"Unfortunately. I didn't choose to, but I will. This dragon problem needs to be dealt with after all." Nera looked back over to Drayce pouncing on Sybel. She caught him in her arms and took him down hard in a tackle. It knocked Sybel's sword free of his hand and left Drayce on top with her sword now touching Sybel's throat. The swords were dull from their constant use, but it served its purpose for training. Garret had trained her with dull weapons, but as she got older Dane and Da'Virr found it stupid. Dane, a natural weapons expert wanted her to know how to fight with a sharp blade simply because soldiers didn't carry around used dull swords.

"Then let us deal with it. We took out a few or so dragons entering Skryim. It wasn't a big deal." Drayce spoke. She stood and offered her hand to Sybel who took it. She yanked him to a stand and then walked over to the weapons rack where she hung her sword and began to remove her own armor. Drayce was right.

"No. People will see what happens to the dragons. You will get pulled into a messy world I would rather you not go into." While Garret and Dane were here, the rest of them were coming in on a large ship that docked at Solitude. On the way here two dragons attacked them and overturned their carriage. They took them down fairly easy, two to each dragon, but something happened. The dragon decomposed almost instantly and a bright light consumed the body before entering Nera and Da'Virr.

"We aren't babies. We can take care of ourselves." Nera snapped. "If anything I can always bring Drayce!"

"Since when did I become your bitch?" Drayce was wiping her face off on the loose tunic she wore. She sat down beside Garret and pulled the mages robe out of his hand as he yet again pricked himself. She was inspecting it closely. "You should have been a seamstress. You and Dancer both would be rich and famous throughout Skyrim. Beat out that cranky bitch, Taarie and her equally bitchy sister Endarie."

"You became my female dog when I first came into your life and Garret fell instantly in love with me." Nera put her hand on her chest above her heart and her shoulders sagged as she looked down to the ground. "I became his favorite soon after he found me waddling on the path with my mama's staff." She cracked her voice at the end to make it sound all the more dramatic.

"Oh, stuff it. May Sithis beat some sense into your dumbass in the void. I'm his favorite." Drayce spoke as she handed the robes back to Garret.

"Um, hello. I'm his favorite by default because I'm his blood." Sybel was leaning against the workbench. He was wiping his shirtless chest down with the tunic he had on previously. There were very few scars on his body. He was very vain about his looks and didn't like to marred. The only scar he carried was down his back from the top of his left shoulder to the right side of his waist. It was from a troll as a child. Garret told her he was hunting when he heard Sybel wailing. He had run back to the cabin to find Drayce dragging Sybel back to the house. Since then the two of them shared a fear of any type of troll.

They all looked to Garret for an answer. He looked up and around before raising his hands in defense. "I like cats."

Nera was the one who spoke next. "You have to chose which one of us is your favorite."

"Sybel!" Dane's shout echoed off the walls of the cave. He sounded annoyed, but it was good to see he was back. She could try him with Whiterun before taking the long ride down to Riften.

"Waterfall!" Sybel directed as he pushed away from the workbench. Dane didn't know that any of them were back from their travels. Sybel was usually here so it made sense to call his name first when entering the cave. Dane came out from the tunnel covered in ash and soot. Theodane was the second tallest and most bulkiest of the group. He had hair as white as her own with brown eyes. His jaw was straight and square and his nose crooked from it being broken a few times. He carried no scars on his face, but his hands and arms from the brutal work black smithing. He sported a permanent tan she envied, but it was from having to work outside in the forge most his life. He was the master of armor and weapons.

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at the three of them sitting on the ground in a circle. All they needed was Sybel along with a book of spells and incantations so Dane could snap about Sybel trying to summon the Dark Brotherhood…again. "I thought you were still up in Solitude working." It was towards Garret.

"Long story. What is going on?" Sybel waved his hand at Garret and stepped into Dane's view.

"Well, I wasn't expecting Garret to be here. Or Nera." He looked nervously between Garret and Sybel. Garret set down the mages robes and stood up slowly.

"What's going on, Dane?" demanded Garret.

"Well…" Dane let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. In his free hand he carried a letter that was opened. It bore the seal of Riften and Garret felt his stomach drop. He reached out and snatched the letter from Dane's hand so fast neither Sybel nor Dane could stop him. "Hey!" He stepped forward, but stopped in his tracks when Garret raised his arm. He opened it to see a letter from the Jarl's steward.

"_Theodane,_

_Da'Virr, has been arrested on the account of stealing potions from Elgrim's Elixirs. She refused to pay the bounty and is now safely tucked within the walls of our prison. Her intended jail time was a month or so, but we did not take into account the other numerous items she had stolen from others throughout Riften. If you want her released it would do good to come here and post her bail and remove her from Riften at once. We will allow this once, but she is not to return back to Riften._

_Anuriel."_

He groaned. Da'Virr had been arrested so many times in her life it was pathetic. She was supposed to be a master at sneaking, but she had the worse luck. Luck is needed when you practice being a thief for a living. It was good that Anuriel had sent him the letter though. She knew Theodane and him from a while back when he traveled to Riften for some supplies for Theodane's forge. A body pressed into his side and he looked down at Nera who was reading the letter in his hand.

"How come the steward is sending you this and not the Jarl or the housecarl?" She asked.


	4. Chapter 4

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Four

**He** didn't need this shit. Garret was busy with other things and here Da'Virr was, getting arrested for stealing potions and flowers. He couldn't waste time to go down to Riften himself so he gave a coin purse to Drayce to bail her out, wrote a letter with his own personal seal and thanks to Anuriel and then took off to Bleak Fall Barrows. He instructed Drayce to not spend any from the black coin purse for it would be strictly for paying off bounty and then paying them to let Da'Virr remain in Riften…after some time off from them hopefully.

Sybel complained about never getting to do anything so he told him to go off exploring the lands of Skyrim. His reply had come shortly after, "Why so a troll can come and eat me!" Then he had to hear Dane bite his head off for not going to see him in the Skyforge in Whiterun when he visited the Jarl. Had he known Dane was there learning the ways of the best forge in Skyrim he would have seen him, but he didn't. Then he had to hear it when Sybel told Dane about him leaving his armor with some inn keeper in Solitude. That caused his brother to flip shit.

Now…now he was walking up a path in the cold, still wearing his mahogany tunic and leather pants and boots. Though now he had Drayce's cape. It came down to his knees but covered his essentials from the cold wind. She could do with her cowl or helmet, but he needed something he could use and this cape was meant to fit Nera and Dane combined. Since it was lined with iron in the inside it was harder for someone to get an arrow through it, but it was also heavy as fuck.

"I should have told him to go fuck himself." He muttered under his breath. Bleak Fall Barrows was on a hill. He asked around Whiterun and it happened to be an ancient Nordic Tomb. Not that anybody really cared too much to go adventuring and see it. He couldn't blame them; he wouldn't want to visit some old tomb. Especially if there weren't any family members in it, and he sure as hell knew, none of his family was in any type of Nordic tomb. It wasn't too far from Whiterun itself and he should end up there by the middle of the night. It would give him the advantage of surprise for any thugs or bandits lurking around. Did he mention that he took Drayce's bow and arrows as well? She didn't know about that part though.

A fox skipped by his feet before running into the trees. There was a skittish goat here and there, but no particular threat…unless you were afraid of goats. Then I guess you were really fucked out in Skyrim, because they were everywhere.

It took a while longer before he reached the steps of Bleak Falls Barrow. He crouched about twenty or so feet away from the steps and looked around. He eyed an iron helmet just barely at the top of the stairs. He could use the box, but it the person moved the arrow would miss and he would risk being detected. Those of Skyrim should clearly see that if an arrow almost hits them then there is some sort of threat that needed to be dealt with immediately. He decided on grabbing his daggers from his sheaths and slitting some throats. He took to walking slowly on the balls of his feet. His lack of armor made it easy for him not become detected.

By the time he made it up the stairs he was in a low crouch and he had spotted several arches walking about the top of the tomb. None of which were looking towards this poor unfortunate soul. It was a bandit wearing hide armor, his chest and back bare to him. Garret decided on a stab to the back. The dagger would penetrate through spine and then the heart and he would his other dagger to slice his throat from ear to ear. The plan was executed well enough and he set to dispersing the rest of the archers. The last one caught on and caught him in the shoulder with an arrow before he launched his body at her and aimed the dagger right through her neck. Through and through.

He pulled free and stood. No need on taking what they owned. He had his money. The arrow was caught in the iron of the cape so he had to put away his daggers and slowly remove it. The iron moved as if it were armor and he swore on his ancestors grave that Dane used magic to make it so. Metal was not meant to move the way Dane could make it which made him a genius in this age.

The entrance was to the side of him up the stairs, but he took a moment and enjoyed the view. He could see small fires started by the camps around the forest and the lights of Whiterun. It was almost serene. The air was cold, but there was no smells of ash, no smells of potions or food, just the earth. He loved it. Always loved being away from people and if it was up to him, he would have picked here as home, not the cave.

The temple was in ruins on the inside. The walls seemed to be collapsing and the only column left was the one directly in the middle of the room. There was a dead bandit lying next to his iron mace and then some skeevers around him. _I wondered what killed him._ Voices could be heard as a soft echo so he kept quiet and went back into his crouched position. He slowly picked up the mace and took it with him. Around the pillar was an opening and he saw that pillar number one wasn't alone, but had a sibling. It was also blocking a good view of the people at the fire. He could hear them talking the closer he came and he had to basically become one with the pillar and ease his way around.

The fire could be his enemy if he got in there view so he needed to remain a small distance until he could at least see them. There were two sitting around the cooking pit above the fire. Both had their backs turned to him. Fatal mistake. Always have someone watch your back or you ended up dead. He moved a bit faster as he pulled one dagger back from it's sheath and threw it at the female's neck. He swung the mace at the male closest to him with all his strength and heard the iron give underneath the blow. The man moaned while the woman convulsed on the floor, bleeding everywhere. The man was up and at him in a second, but Garret was still taller and stronger. The mace made contact with the man's sword, knocking it out of his hands and allowing Garret to kick the man in the stomach. He fell backwards into the pit and the fire, but Garret didn't let him scream in pain. He ended it quick with a few more strikes to the head with the mace.

He collected his dagger and dropped the mace before heading over to the chest by the opening. There was some coin that he took to go toss at Sybel, but the rest was useless. He had no need to keep steel or iron. None what so ever.

The stairs led to a shit load of spider webs and a hallway of urns on stone tables. Any other family member would have searched them, but he would rather light himself on fire. There was ashes in those and the last thing he wanted to do was touch where either someone's ashes had been or someone's organs had been. Fuck that. He passed it and continued down a small slope that lead past a collapsed staircase and into another long hallway with some bookshelves. There was an old potion and a few wine bottles. The potion, yeah…no. The wine? Yes. He grabbed a bottle and pulled it open, smelling the contents. It smelled good enough so he took a swig and kept walking.

More stairs led down to another room that had a man walking back and forth so he set down the wine and pulled out the bow He wore everything but a helmet. It seemed that the nords of Skyrim weren't as smart as they had been when he was a child. Hell, he was taught by his father when he first started walking to keep yourself protected at any cost. It was a quick enough kill and he could go back to drinking as he entered and pulled the arrow free of the man's head.

The room had another level hat was accessible by only one stairway. There was a lever besides it, in the middle of the room, a closed gate in the front of it. There was a snake in the mouth of a man in the ground and to the side he saw two birds and what looked like a whale, but he wasn't sure. Something. The whale was in the middle, but as he got closer, he realized that they moved. It was a key to getting the door open. A puzzle. He should have brought Nera.

He looked above him at the second floor. There were two faces above and the middle face must have been the face that was now in the ground by the lever. The face to the left had a snake and the one to the right had the whale thing. At least it wasn't a hard puzzle. He walked activated the pillars until they went snake, snake, whale and then walked over to the lever. "I swear to Talos, If I get shot and die I am finding the architect who designed this place and torturing them." He spoke as he kicked the lever over.

There was a quick pause before he saw the gate lifted out of his way. With a smug smile on his face he walked into the room.

**"I** can't believe he took my bow! The one thing I value more than life and he took it. That fucker is going to pay dearly." Drayce had Nera in town on the way to Riften. Garret had given her a black leather coin purse to deal with Da'Virr and then another to pay for Nera, but then went ahead and took her bow and arrows. It wasn't like they were some hunting bow with worthless iron arrows. She spent precious time and coin into caring for her bow. Her name was even carved into the grip and for him to take it from her was bull.

"He didn't have anything other than his daggers. It would be unfair to leave him without something else as protection." Nera argued.

"He has my cape. That is protection enough. Hell there are a shit load of weapons where we live and he could have gone back into town and sacrificed a little pride in getting something at the lowly blacksmiths instead of taking my bow. Now all I have is daggers and my axe. I don't even have my cape so now everyone sees my weapons." Drayce looked around the path. It was dead silent and pitch black. They were almost at Riften and left shortly after Garret when she decided to chase him down and beat him with the blunt side of her axe.

Nera had dragged her back and set her on the path to Riften and since then they had just been walking while she raved. It had to be around three in the morning, but neither of them was tired. Hell Nera was skipping behind her, now wearing her mages robes. They were mainly white. Nothing like the classic Nordic mages robes, but completely different. The hood beaked over to cover over half of her face. There was a blue silk cloth lined in red that slipped from the top of her shoulders down the middle of her front. It was held not tightly to her body, but loosely, her belt nothing more than a long red ribbon. It was tied around her waist three times before the knot was made to hang low at her middle. There was another cloth below the blue silk, but on top of the white made of a darker red cloth. It didn't go far down the robe, but was angled like the robe itself to come to point at the middle of her legs. It was connected somehow to a piece that traveled up her back and then wrapped in the front again at the top of her chest with some birds carved into the metal clip.

Since the robe didn't go all the way to her ankles but angled off at her knees, Garret made her wear leather pants underneath them. Nera had her staff of sparks with her, using it as a walking stick while Drayce, once again carried the bags of supplies that would be carted back to Winterhold when they were done here. There was books neatly place in the first bag at her hip along with scrolls tucking into the side and then the potions were in the bigger bag with nothing more than plants and other herds for Nera's potions. Three different bags. One on each hip and the last on her back next to her axe.

"I think I'm going to buy a horse for the ride back." She said under her breath.

They arrived at Riften when the early sun began to rise and was greeted by a guard who thought to bribe them. She almost killed him when the other guard stepped in and allowed her to enter. She was never bribed and by Talos she would kill anyone who ever to tried to bribe her again. She looked wealthy, yes, but she also looked deadly and angry and mean and everything that should keep bitches like guards from treating her like a peasent.

"Calm down." Nera spoke.

"This is the equivalent to you having to wear commoners clothes." Nera gasped at the thought. "Yeah exactly. Shut it." There was two people talking to the side of them. The woman wore armor, branded iron armor for sure and a battleaxe at her back. She seemed to have an orangey blonde hair and was talking with a man and they were talking. With what she did not care about.

As she continued to walk she met a man leaning against a pole. "Who is that?" Nera asked. She was at her back, her body glued to armor as if Nera was getting ready to use her as a shield.

"I don't know you." He spoke. Well obviously. "You in Riften looking for trouble?" The man had black hair and a balbo going on. Not as nicely kept as Sybel's though. He wore steel armor and was bulky, giving off the whole I'm baddest of the baddest.

"Listen, I am in no mood to deal with you. I'm here for my own reasons that don't include you in them and I expect you to shut your mouth and leave me be. Come on." She walked away without another word, grabbing onto Nera's wrists. "We are staying at the inn until everyone but the creeps and weirdos are awake."

Nera was lying in bed playing with her fingers while Drayce lay on the floor. The bags were above her resting on the wardrobe, but her weapons were cradled against her. She was in a foul mood over her not having her bow, which made no sense. Her sister was always possessive of that and her axe. She only really used those and the armor she had on now. She didn't like to many outfits because it made life harder. More choices more difficult in her eyes. She had very few nice clothes either. Mostly commoners clothes that she would just relax in at home.

She was needed to nap, but she also wanted to look around the place. The only thing keeping her from that was the thought of the Thieves Guild. Riften was rumored to be the home of the famous Thieves Guild and she had a feeling going outside before everyone was out and about made her a clear target for a thief. She'd rather not. So she remained in the bed until it Drayce woke.

"So who was that man?" Nera asked as they walked around the marketplace.

"Hell if I know. I never really go through that door so I never met him before." There was an empty stand in the marketplace, but everyone else was there. They walked into the Mistveil Keep and approached the elf by the Jarl. The Jarl was oblivious to the fact that an armed woman and a mage had walked into her home, but the elf didn't.

"I have a letter for Anuriel. Are you her?" Drayce went right up to her, all business no play.

"Yes." She reached for the letter and took it from Drayce. Nera looked over the table and watched the male nord at the other side of the Jarl kept glancing over at Anuriel. There was two people to the right of the room arguing about the Imperia-Stormcloak war, and then the other elf closest to them wearing mage robes. "Follow me." Anuriel excused herself from the table and showed them out the door. Nera was about to ask why when they started walking around to a tunnel that had another door. "You are Garret's sisters?"

"That's what it said in the letter did it not?" Drayce snapped. Talking to an elf wasn't helping Drayce's mood at all. "I want to get my sister and go as soon as possible." Anuriel nodded and opened the door into the prison. They walked along, passing two guards on the way to the lower level of cells. Da'Virr was wearing a ragged tunic and pants sitting across from an elf.

"Here she is. All her stuff is in a chest upstairs." Drayce pulled out the black coin purse and handed it over in exchange for the key.

"You can leave now." Drayce spoke as she took the key and opened the door.

"I would like to get to-"

"Go." She snapped. Nera almost laughed, but if she did then she would face the wrath of her sister. Note to self: do not take something of Drayces. Anuriel left them in a hurry. Da'Virr was up on her feet and at the door in seconds and she felt as if Drayce was going to reach into the cellar and throttle their furry sister. "You are an idiot."

"It's not my fault." Da'Virr defended.

"How is stealing not your fault?" Nera hung back and let Drayce talk with Da'Virr. They got into just as many fights as Drayce did with Sybel.

"It's not my fault I got caught, not that I stole." Da'Virr remarked.

"Garret found out. He is the reason why you are still being allowed in Riften right now. How he got the steward in his grasp I do not know…well maybe I do, but that isn't the point. You need to be careful what you do."She scolded. Drayce took over as the mother hen sometimes. Garret was the more likable mother hen, but Drayce was still as overprotective as Garret when it came down to it.

"Come on, Nera. Would you really let your sister rot in a prison?" Da'Virr looked towards her for some assistance.

"Don't look at me. Drayce will beat me up if I try and stop her and the dump me in the next block. Kiss her butt, not mine." Nera lifted her hands in her own defense. The last thing she needed was to be on Drayce's shit list while mad. Her sister still appeared to be the same. Nothing changed on her. There wasn't much to change on her anyway. She was a Khajiit and they had a certain fur and a certain eye color. There was no cutting or restyling the hair unless she wanted to be bald in some areas.

Da'Virr looked back at Drayce. Drayce would let Da'Virr out. She may be mad, but she wasn't mad at Da'Virr. She was mad at Garret and so she would let Da'Virr out and apologize for taking out her anger on the poor cat. Just right now she was probably enjoying the fact that Da'Virr needed Drayce in order to be free and that would mean Da'Virr would owe her. It wouldn't be the first time and Drayce took her time before she ever collected anything.

"Fine. Want to play dirty." She spoke, grabbing on the bars and pressing her face into the cool metal. "If you don't let me out right now, I won't tell Garret that you were the reason he lost his client back in Cyrodil. The pretty imperial with the busty chest?"

Drayce's jaw dropped and Nera's ears perked with interest. "What is this I hear?" She spoke as she came over to Drayce and nudged her over.

"How did you know?" Drayce asked.

"I followed you. You walked up to her wearing this slick outfit I had never seen before and started flirting with her like there was no tomorrow. You were every move calculated in your methods. The top at the neckline plunged down ever so much and you had weapons strapped to your hips with a hood over your head. It made you mysterious and that imperial loved it. By the time Garret had actually found her to sign the contract she was completely smitten with you and wanted nothing but you." Da'Virr purred in the satisfaction that she had something to hold Drayce with.

"She had the big time contract out on that general traveling to Solitude. That's why Garret went back to High Rock for a little. He lost his contract to some women he didn't know form a hole in the ground and his pride was busted." Nera let out a laugh. "If he found out that was you…oh boy, you might as well just stop talking to him now."

"Your choice, sister dear. My freedom or your damnation?" Da'Virr's purring got louder.

Drayce was silent for a second before she growled out a yes. She gave the keys to Nera and she opened the cell for her sister. Da'Virr jumped out of the cage and attacked her with a great big hug. Her claws dug into her robes, but didn't pierce them, which was great because she didn't want to deal with her robes also having holes in them.

"Now, you two can come with me to meet some people with more work for me." She said with a gleeful hint of mischief in her eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Five

**They** had to wait for Da'Virr to dress back into her armor before leaving the jail in search for the Rataway. Drayce had been against it, but Nera, ever so curious was shifting her weight back and forth from one foot to the other in excitement. They left the prison with nothing more than some babbling nonsense from the Riften Guards.

"So, the man you talked to…was he cute?" Nera asked, holding onto Da'Virr's arm as they walked down the stairs to the lower level of Riften.

"He's alright…" she responded. The door to the Rataway was just to the left of them. They had to open a gate before getting to the actual door. Inside was a narrow tunnel.

"Was he nice, what type of accent did he have? Species? Age?" Since the tunnel was so narrow, Nera had to keep herself glued to Da'Virr's side or be slammed against the stone walls.

"He is a nord. I do not know to describe his accent nor do I know his age." There was some arguing ahead of them and Nera could just barely hear Da'Virr slide her blade out of its sheath or Drayce pull her axe. They came closer and saw a woman and man, dressed like bandits right before they turned on them and attacked. Da'Virr took the blade to the woman's throat, tearing out her throat as she began to utter some sort of insult. Nera stepped off to the side to allow Drayce in as she swung her axe at the man and cleaved his head off. The axe swung until it hit the stone wall and it actually sunk into it.

More proof that Drayce was strong enough to be her mule. Nera smiled to herself and stepped over the dead man's body. Both of the bandit's blood coated the ground and Nera was not soaking her shoes in it. She walked into the next room where there was some candlelight and bedrolls. "You need to pay more attention to detail. What color was his hair, his eyes? Was he fat or built? How did he carry himself." Nera saw an opening in the wall, a doorway. There was a bridge across from them, but it was drawn up.

"I'm not dropping down there." She said.

"He had red hair and green eyes. He wasn't fat from what I could-" Da'Virr began to speak but her sentence trailed off as she glanced down. "I don't want to do this." She looked at Drayce as she came into the room with some gold coins. "You should go down there and bring the bridge down for us."

"You can go to hell. You have work down here, you do it." Drayce tossed the coins at Nera who took them with a squeal of excitement.

**Sybel** needed something more to do than bake in this cave. All he had been doing since they left was lay in his bed, looking at the ceiling. He had washed himself off in the waterfall and then changed into another pair of his tunic and pants, but he didn't bother with his shoes. The cold scratchy floor didn't bother his feet at all. His armor was set on his mannequin. He was pretty basic so that he could blend. It was light and easy unlike Garret or Dane's choice in armor, but it was still tough. It was tougher than leather, but shared the same look. The color was a dark brown, but the thread was green silk. It wasn't designed as intricately as everyone one of his siblings was, but simple. The front was held together by a hunter green leather strap and he normally wore another shirt over it. He had two belts, one around his waist and one around his thigh that carried his throwing knives.

He had Drayce as a sparring partner, but Nera stole her away to go down to Riften and then Dane went back to the Skyforge in Whiterun. He could go to Whiterun and flirt, but Carlotta will just shoot him down again. It didn't help that her daughter Mia didn't like him. She refused to talk to him, and then that awful child Braith would try and purposely trip him.

Yeah…He will pass on Whiterun.

Well he could just venture. Enjoy the life of Skyrim while his siblings went off on secret missions. He would make his own journey! He will take his armor and himself and go venture. Hell if his family could do so could he. With that in mind he stood up from the bed and yanked on his light armor over his normal clothing. It was tight enough to his skin that it didn't get in the way as he tugged it on. He grabbed his boots he had thrown to the side and tugged them. His belts went on next, but he had to take his weapons from wardrobe and slip them back. He was more of a sword expert. He had an ebony sword at his left hip and then his throwing knives. He had a blowing dart tucked next to another pouch on his right side, the pouch carrying poisonous darts.

He was more kill them while hidden or face them in a duel then fight hordes and then die. He would purposely let himself be taken into custody and then cut his way through the bindings and then kill all his captors. He didn't look threatening, but he sure as hell was. Sybel grabbed his bag from the corner of the room and threw it over his shoulder. It was small and light but carried a lot of helpful items.

Sybel grabbed a roll of paper and an ink and quill off his night stand before writing a quick note to Dane or anyone else if they came back before he did. He set the roll of paper flat against the dining table and held it in place with two smaller rocks before he grabbed an apple dumpling for the road and left. It took him a few minutes to get across the river without falling to his death like he usually did and then he went north to Dawnstar.

**"This** is the Ragged Flagon?" Drayce said unimpressed. "I was told it was supposed to be this fancy place that housed the Thieves Guild."

"Who told you that?" Da'Virr sneered. Nera went back to holding her arm as they walked to the small little bridge that went over a possible sewer exit and into the bar area.

"You forget, I have to go to a lot of places, killed a lot of people. It would be weird if I didn't know anything about the Thieves Guild. Hell I had a book on the shadow marks a while ago that I memorized before tossing the thing." Since Da'Virr had her back on her sister she couldn't see any facial expressions made by her still angry sister. Brynjolf was back in the same leather get up as when she first met him at the bar.

The bar had some tables, but not a lot of furnishings. She couldn't blame Drayce for how skeptical she was. This place looked like a complete mess. There was another three people walking about that she didn't know by name and then the bartender, but besides that it seemed devoid of life. Just like the four spider webbed filled areas surrounding the bar of the Ragged Flagon.

Brynjolf turned around to look at them before approaching. Of course, Nera refused to let go, but looked over the man in front of him as if she was about to cut him open and examine his insides. In a good way…

"Well…well color me impressed, lass. I wasn't certain I'd ever see you again." He spoke.

"Getting here was easy." Da'Virr straightened her back in pride.

"Yeah, okay." Drayce uttered from behind.

Brynjolf gave her no attention. "Reliable and headstrong? You're turning out to be quite the prize!" Da'Virr felt a tug on her arm and only glanced at Nera being pulled by Drayce. Drayce was probably going to get something to drink from the bartender. "So…now that I whetted your appetite with our little scheme at the market, how about handling a few deadbeats for me?"

"Deadbeats? What'd they do?" she asked as she spied Drayce walk over to the bar with Nera in hand. Was she good or was she good? Da'Virr had to go with her being awesome.

"They owe our organization some serious coin and decided not to pay." This organization had to be the Thieves Guild. If Drayce brought it up, it must be. Sybel and Drayce were usually the most informed because they talked with everyone when it came to guilds and convents and locations. Garret knew enough to do his job, but they were very detailed when it came down to places and 'organizations'. Just like she was good with memorizing any face and picking any lock…with enough patience and Nera learned everything there was about the more abnormal things like magic.

No Brynjolf glanced over at Drayce and Nera as they settled down on the stools. "I want you to show them the errors of their way." He looked back at her. "Who are they?"

"Family. Sounds good. Who are they?" the subject wasn't about to change to her siblings when coin was involved.

He took the hint."Keerava, Bersi Honey-Hand and Haelga. Do this right and I can promise you a permanent place in our organization."

**"So** you aren't allowed to kill them?" Drayce had mead in hand while Nera was eating some apple pie. Da'Virr was leaning against the bar next to Drayce explain what she needed to do for this.

"No." Da'Virr replied. At the least the Thieves Guild still went by some of their rules. She had ran into a few other members of Thieves Guild during her Travels. There was a man named Glover Mallory in High rock whose brother was actually somewhere in this room supposedly. She never really bothered to search out the Thieves Guild since she was a mercenary. There was no reason to be down here with them. Especially since she had a good amount of gold in her pocket to pay for more of Nera's crap.

"This you have to do on your own. I got you out of the prison for Garret and now I buy what I need and then leave." She spoke. Drayce didn't want to go through the Rataway again just to get into the marketplace, but she was sure there was a secret entrance/exit to go through the Guild. Glover talked about this place extensively, but he was obviously out of date since this place wasn't as grand as he explained it to be. She looked over at Nera who was innocently eating her food, but ease dropping all the same. "Hurry up and eat. I want to get your shit and go."

"You need to calm down. It was a just a bow and you know Garret isn't going to break it. He is careful with everything he uses." Nera spoke. Da'Virr grabbed the mead bottle out of her hand and took a swig from it before taking a piece of an apple from the apple pie.

"It's not that he won't break it. It's that he took it without asking. That irks me on so many levels. That's like taking your mother's staff without you knowing and when you want to use it you find out someone else is using it without you knowing." She took the bottle back from Da'Virr with a growl and was replied to with a hiss of her feline sister.

"I guess, but you still need to stop being angry. You're face will freeze that way." She poked Drayce's cheek with her pinky and then went back to eating.

They sat there until Nera finished and she got up. Da'Virr wanted to talk to the people around them so she didn't go up to the other door. Drayce remembered Glover telling her that the door wasn't in plain sight. There were two doors in the back. One went into the vaults and the other into the Thieves Guild where the secret entrance was off to the right. It took a lot of thinking to remember everything he said, but it paid off.

The wardrobe was fake and opened on both sides into another small hallway. The door at the end of the small hallway lead to the cistern. She looked around to see beds and some people wandering about. Nera was at her back just in case someone decided they were going to attack them. It was how Drayce and Garret brought Nera up. To use them as a shield. Though it was meant for when she was younger and wasn't well versed in fighting. Now that she could fight and protect herself it was a bit annoying.

She walked around the raised platform above the water and over to another opening. There was a man who stepped in front of her. He was taller than her with brown hair and brown eyes like herself. He had a five o'clock shadow and was a bit too thin for her tastes. He wore a lighter brown version of what Brynjolf had on. "How did you get in here?" He asked, planting his feet apart as if no one was going to move him. Think again.

Drayce caught his right arm with her hand and pulled hard to her left. It pulled him off balance and allowed her to catch his left foot and bring him down to the cold stone ground…hard. "Don't get in my way." She stepped over his horizontally challenged body and walked over to the latter that was to the right. Glover was a good man when it came down to his details. Even if he hadn't been here in years.

**Sybel** found himself in Braidwood Inn. It was a lovely little place, Kynesgrove. It was close to Windhelm and he was going there to check out the place. Nera loved it so much so he didn't see why he wouldn't take a couple of days and learn the people's ways and see if he could bed himself with a few ladies. Nords or not.

He was eating some cheese and mead when a lovely lady walked in wearing a worn tunic. She was an imperial by the looks of it. Her skin was much darker than his, but not dark enough to be considered a Redguard or Breton. She was blonde with blue eyes, a voluptuous body and a sharp face only an Imperial could posses. He nose was small, her cheekbones high. She carried no blemishes on her face, neck or hands from his view and had to from some sort of rich family. This woman was definitely Imperial.

Even if other Nords couldn't tell themselves. He had a nice eye when it came to labeling people to their origin and home.

He brought his other leg over the bench and extended his hand out toward her. "Hey sweetie. How about you join me?" she looked over at him. Her eyes traveled over his body. She stood there and stared at him. "I don't bite. Just a friendly nord passing by." He said with a smile.

She nodded before sitting down with him at the table. He remained how he was, one leg outside the table and one under. He was turned toward her side as he made small talk with her and ate steak salmon. It needed some more salt, but he couldn't complain. Or else the owner would kick his ass out.

Her name was Sylori and her family had lived in Solitude before leaving when she was just a child. She was a farmer's daughter now, waiting for someone to take her hand in marriage. By the end of the night he would have her talked out of that waiting till marriage crap and in his bed. He didn't mind waiting a bit. He was a patient man who loved women. Whether they were Nords or Khajiit.

Some more mead later and a lot of in detail conversations later he rented a room from Iddra and was pulling her to his room. She was giggling and he must have had the biggest goofiest smile on his face. He hadn't gotten laid in a while and it was about time he had someone to ease his blue balls with. He closed the door to his room and sat down on the single bed, drawing Sylori onto his lap as he began to kiss her neck. Her hands ran through his hair before sliding down back and up again.

He nipped at the skin covering her jugular before licking the bite and then repeating the process below her jaw. She let out a gasp and her hand came up to grab his hair and pull him away from her neck. "Bad, Sybel. No biting." She said before kissing him, battling his tongue with her own. She shifted in his lap to put more contact between them before removing her hand from his hair and massaging his back.

"Biting's. My. Thing." He spoke between their breaks in the kiss. His hand was working the tie at the front of her tunic, slowly loosening it so he could hike it up and over her head.

"Well too bad puppy dog. No biting for you." She lifted her arms for him, but as soon as the first of her dress was of her hands were back on him, pulling at the tie on his front. Sybel chuckled as she loosened it enough to see his tunic underneath it. "Why so many layers?"

"I could tell you the same thing." He kissed her again, this time, slower, taking his time to taste her. Something pricked the back of his neck and he brought his hand to swat away whatever bug that decided to try and ruin his fun. There was nothing on his neck, but Sylori's hand was mere inches down from his neck. Sybel pulled back from her, wincing at the now to bright candles. All too soon he found dark spots littering his vision and an evil smile on Sylori's face. "Goodnight Stormcloak."

Everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Six

**Garret** was walking-no he took that back, limping across the bridge before entering Whiterun. He couldn't believe he took that tumble down. It was pure luck that he didn't break Drayce's bow. If he did, there would be no returning home. If he did he would have been killed for sure. It did take longer than he thought it would have initially. It had at least been a day and a half since leaving the cave. He took his time searching through Bleak Fall Barrows. Before grabbing the Dragonstone he had encountered a word wall of sorts with a different language carved into it.

His observations of it were interrupted because a draugr decided to try and kill him, but even after the thing was dead he could still make no sense of the wall. He made a mental note to talk to Nerana about it before taking the Dragonstone and leaving.

Now with Dragonstone in hand passed the Whiterun guard and entered Whiterun. It was night time once again. Hence why he believed it had been at least a day and half. More than enough time for Drayce and Nera to take Da'Virr out of prison and hopefully drag her ass out of Riften. It would be nice if she actually tried to lay low and out of peoples private chests until they at least forgot about her.

A little girl ran past him, almost knocking him over as she chased a boy down the road. It was nighttime and these children were still outside? Even if Whiterun was surrounded by stone walls and guards it didn't mean someone in Whiterun themselves couldn't snap and hurt one of them, and it was obvious that parents didn't care enough about them to acknowledge that. Shaking his head, he continued up the path and to the inn. Fuck the Jarl's court wizard. He was tired. It was bed time for him.

The morning came to fast in his opinion. He was on his back with something really warm covering one side of his body. His other leg was hanging off the bed while his arm had been thrown above him. The other side of him was pinned. Garret looked down at the Redguard curled into his side. She had hair that barely passed her chin. It was straight and thick and her skin was the dark coffee color of her people. He looked around the room to see it bare of any personal items. He wasn't in a rented room though. He was in the single of this woman's room here in the Bannered Mare. After he entered he drank a little and started to flirt with her as she swept the floors. One thing led to another and he ended up well sated for the night.

He slowly pulled himself out from under her and stood to his full height. He was stark naked, his clothes on the floor by the door and his cape thrown over the small wardrobe in the room. His weapons were tucked under her bed…how? Garret shook his head as he yanked on his pants, boots then tunic. Was the Dragonstone under the bed as well? He hoped the fuck so.

Garret left the inn without saying anything. He had his weapons back in place and the Dragonstone in his left hand. The quick walk to Dragonsearch gave him no time to think. He would give the thing to the court wizard and then leave before the wizard or Jarl can get him to do anything more. Dragonsearch was its usual calm. He walked up the stairs and entered the opening to the right where the court wizard stood, talking to a stranger who was bent slightly over the table examining something. He shoved the Dragonstone into the court wizards hand, watching him stumble a bit before speaking, "Ah, the Dragonstone of Bleak Falls Barrow."

"What else would it be? That is what you asked for is it not?" Garret spoke.

The wizard ignored that bit of the sentence. "Seems you are cut above the usual brutes the Jarl sends my way."

"You have the Dragonstone, what now?" Garret watched the wizard place it on the desk the stranger still sat. It was a woman from the way the armor molded over her body, but the hood was drawn to close to her face for him to make out any distinguish features.

"That is where your job ends and mine begins. The work of the mind, sadly undervalued in Skyrim…my associate here will be pleased to see your handiwork. She discovered it by means she has so far declined to share with me." They both turned to look at the woman. She stood up, her back now straight as she turned her head to look at them both. Her face was covered by the shadows the damned hood created while over her head.

"So your information was correct after all," The wizard spoke to her. "and we have our friend here to thank for going in and recovering it for us." He gestured to Garret.

The woman shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "You went into Bleak Falls Barrow and got that?" Well of course. He wasn't some whelp who couldn't defend himself. He refrained from making any biting remarks. "Nice work. Just send me a copy when you have deciphered it."

There was the sound of armor moving behind him and he turned around to see Irileth standing behind him. She seemed out of breath as she stood there and pegged the wizard with her stare. "Farengar, you must come at once. A dragon's been sighted nearby." Well good luck with that. He started to walk off, but then the dark elf looked at him. Fuck no… "You should come too." _Fuck me._

"A dragon? How exciting." The wiz-Farengar spoke. He needed to remember these peoples name for future reference. The woman took her leave there. She was wussing out? "Where was it seen? What was it doing?" The woman went to the exit, leaving before Irileth could reply. That was unfair. If he couldn't wuss out, neither could she.

"I'd take this a bit more seriously if I were you." Farengar had approached Irileth, but as soon as he was close she turned and began to walk toward the Jarl. Garret ran his hand through his short hair before following after them. "If a dragon decides to attack Whiterun…I don't know if we can stop it." They paused for a second by the stairs that led to the second floor of Dragonsreach. Irileth looked at the guard to the right of the stairway. "Let's go."

They all followed the dark elf like lost puppies. The Jarl was waiting just in front of another huge entryway. Why did they have doors big enough to allow dragon's through? The Jarl looked at the Whiterun guard that had followed them up the stairs. The Jarl ignored Garret being there and stared at the guard. "So Irileth tells me you came from the western watch tower?"

"Yes m'lord." The guard spoke.

Irileth stepped forward, closer to the Jarl than the guard was. "Told him what you told me, about the dragon."

**Da'Virr** was back in the Ragged Flagon. She was already apart of them since she got the deadbeats to pay up. Now she was back from burning beehives. She cut right to the chase and did her business, quick and easy. She didn't want to upset Mercer or Brynjolf. Especially not Brynjolf. He was way to high on her need to fuck list. The man had an uncanny humor and his accent became more and more addicting the longer she listened.

Mercer was old and looked as if he was a Skooma addict. He was thin and a little pale with unkept black hair that reached to his ears. He had a shadow as most the other men had, but he just seemed so much dirtier than the others. He wore the same outfit as Brynjolf, but he didn't fill it out like Brynjolf did. The man was also a complete and utter jerk. She had been sitting crossed legged in the training room when someone walked over to her. It was Rune. He leaned against the wall beside her, letting out a sigh.

"I have a question for you." She talked to Rune shortly after officially joining the Guild and found that he was named after the rune he had been found with. He didn't know who his real parents and spent most his coin on trying to find out more about his real family and past.

"What?" Da'Virr looked up at him. He was looking at the wall across from them.

"The day you first came to talk to Brynjolf…there was two other women here." Ah…this was over her sisters. Well, didn't this make her feel special? He wasn't here to simply talk with her, but wanted to know of her family. Men. "One was wearing some sort of fancy armor and had an axe with her and the smaller one was wearing some sort of mages robe. Do you know who they are?"

"My sisters. The one in fancy armor is my older sister while the other is my younger sister." She chuckled as he gaped, his eyes now focused on her. "You weren't the only one raised by someone else. My older brother took me in when he found me struggling to survive in Elsweyr. He raised me along with the three other children he had with him, and then we found my younger sister shortly after."

Rune shook his head as if to get rid of the shocked look on his face before speaking again, "This might sound weird…um…I want to know more about your older sister. Are you willing to tell me about her?" Yeah, she will eat you alive and then use your bones to make jewelry, but this was interesting. It would provide her older sister with some entertainment while she traveled around.

**Garret** followed Irileth outside of Whiterun and onto the path that headed to the Western watch tower. They were jogging over, Drayce's bow in hand as he watched the skies. Dragon's were masters of the sky and it would be easier trying to shoot it down with a bow then throwing one of his daggers at it. The tower came into view. There were Whiterun gaurds scrambling around and looking around for any traces of the Dragon and a dead horse lay in the middle of the road. He saw a shape kneeling beside it and rummaging through the saddle.

He got closer and he saw the signature braided Mohawk of Drayce bowed in search for something. He ended up at a dead run towards her and only stopping when he was at the horses side and pulling his sister to her feet. "What the he-" She stopped mid sentence when she saw him.

"Where is Nera? Why are you here? Are you hurt?" He bombarded her with his questions.

"Calm down. I left Nera at Braidwood Inn in Kynsegrove. I wanted to get back to see if you go home yet. I wanted my bow." She said, looking down at his hand. She glanced at his shoulders to ensure that he still had her cape before continuing, "What are you doing out here. There is a fucking dragon-" The sound of the dragon rendered everyone speechless. The source of the roar came into view seconds later when the dragon swooped below.

Garret had Drayce on the ground in less time it took for anyone to blink as he just missed them and picked up a guard instead, taking the screaming man high into the air before dropping him. Drayce grunted as her back hit the ground and the axe dug into her bag. She shoved at her older brother, forcing him to a stand as she pulled herself to one as well. Drayce snatched the bow from his hand as she yanked her axe from her back and handed it to him. "Switch. Give me my arrows." She spoke. He obeyed instantly. Though his aim was better, she was faster with the bow and a dragon wasn't a hard target to miss.

The dragon came back around and while the Whiterun guards shot arrows and missed Drayce went from the wings, loading the dragon with her ebony arrows before it disappeared again. Garret would wait for the dragon to come down where he would be able to do his most damage. These guards were strong, but they were new at this, just kids compared to him when it came to fighting. He was seasoned and stronger. On top of that he had already killed a dragon before and so had his sister. They were better fitted for killing the monsters than anyone around them.

A second time around the dragon swooped low again, but that allowed Drayce to catch an eye before Garret yanked her back. "Watch the fuck out." He could hear the guards scrambling and Irileth yelling at the dragon as if really cared what she had to say. This was an animal, driven by instinct. If they understood what was being spoken they didn't care. They were hungry for destruction and food..and the food just happened to be them.

"I know what I'm doing. This was how we took the dragons down last time." She shouted at him before moving into the line of sight for the dragon once more. Drayce had arrow after arrow launched through her bow. Normally the arrow would fall when shot in rapid succession, but that was only because most soldiers never pulled the bow taught because they weren't enough to do it quickly, but she was and the arrows were just as deadly as the axe in his hand.

Before he knew it the dragon was landing on the ground and lurching toward Drayce. He ditched the cape around his shoulders and ran at the dragon before jumping onto the dragon's back. He didn't give the dragon time to react, but slammed the axe with all his strength between the eyes. The axe hadn't gone deep enough and the dragon reared its head back, trying to fling him back. He held fast on the axe to keep from being thrown and then pulled the axe out again to strike once again, landing in the same place and cracking fully through the skull and into the brain. The dragon collapsed on the ground, its body now limp.

Drayce approached the dragon with caution. Her hand grabbed the arrow in the dragon's eye and she pulled. Garret yanked the axe out of the skull just as the body just stated to flake in the wind. He jumped from the body and observed what was happening. The body was just disintegrating in the wind. He looked at Drayce who was staring at it wide eyed. "What the fuck, Drayce?" He asked.

"This happened with Nera and Da'Virr. Someone here is like them." Drayce did a slow 360 degree turn, searching people, but she didn't look at the dragon. The dragon's soul seemed to be traveling in a stream of colors, traveling through the air towards her body.

"Drayce, it's you!" He snapped. She completed her turn to watch the soul surround her, the brightness of the dragon's soul almost blinding as it began to settle into her skin. He squinted, the light to bright, but refusing to close them or turn away to watch Drayce. With her free hand she touched her face, skimming over her skin from her cheek down to her neck where it hid under the collar of her armor. The guards stared in awe at what was happening but she looked uncomfortable. After the glow faded and the soul seemed to settle into her skin he shot her with a glare that could probably kill someone if he wanted it to.

"I thought it was just Nera and Da'Virr?" It came out harshly, but oh fucking well.

**Sybel** almost fell to the ground as he was dragged forward by chains. This sucked. His entire body hurt; his face the most. He awoke in the middle of a forest surrounded by Sylori and Imperial Guards. He was tied to tree at the time with only the clothes from underneath his armor. His weapons were all gone and he was kneeling in the cold wet dirt. They had beat the fuck out of him, telling him that he was a liar and it would be less painful for him to tell him what Ulfric was planning.

Like hell he would know. He wasn't a Stormcloak, but the Imperials didn't believe him so he was tortured some more. One of them thought it would be funny to take his bow and shoot an arrow through his knee. His fucking knee! Walking was agony.

"Faster you milk drinker." The Imperial snapped, tugging the chain harder. His knee gave out when he took a step with his bad knee and he tumbled to the side. The one tugging the chain shouted at him to get up, but it was a bit hard to move at the moment. Sybel shifted to more comfortable, but then the Imperial came up to him and kicked him as hard as he could in the ribs with his iron boots. He clenched his teeth at the fresh pain of another rib cracking under their gentle care.

"I have an arrow through me knee. Go fuck yourself." Sybel looked over towards Sylori was standing there, legs apart, hands on her hips. She had a face of pure annoyance. _Yeah, well she can suck my dick too. _The Imperial grabbed his shoulders and dragged him to stand, but Sybel's knee wouldn't hold his weight. The Imperial cursed him before raining punches down on his face and torso.

Damn, it fucking hurt to breathe right now and this asshole was hitting him. Sybel was forced to endure the man's assault until another Imperial pulled him off Sybel with a warning to keep him alive. "He's useless. He can't even walk." The Imperial who had beaten him argued. Sybel hadn't cared to learn their names or faces. The only face he knew was Sylori and that was only because she had tricked him into this imprisonment by pretending to be an innocent virgin.

"Like he said, he has an arrow through his knee. It's not like he is doing this on purpose so we beat him some more." The other argued.

"Then what do we do with him? I sure as hell won't carry him!" He shouted. There were farmers in a carriage passing by. The woman in the carriage looked at him with pity as he lay there on the ground, but the other surrounding Imperials shouted at them t mind their own business and hurry on.

"We rest for a bit then try to see if he can walk."

"Great, now we are going to lose more time because of a bloody Stormcloak." Sybel shifted onto his back to relieve the pressure on his left arm from lying on his side and stared up at the sky. Lovely day they were having. He wondered if Garret arrived back at their home. What was he doing right now? For that matter what was all of his siblings doing at this very moment. No doubt Drayce was still being Nera's bitch, but Da'Virr and Dane were always wild cards. Garret was pretty predicable as well. He fought, eat, fucked than slept. Usually in that order.

"It's not like we a deadline. We can spare some time."

"Fine."

**Nera** looked around her. She was lost for sure. She needed to be in Saarthal, but she couldn't exactly find her way back there and she lost her map. Or did she forget it? She couldn't remember for sure. She had clairvoyance but she didn't want to waste her magic just in case someone attacked her. Then again that was why she was taught how to fight. In the event that she should run out of her magic and needed time to let it all come back to her.

She scrunched her face at the sudden gust of wind that attacked her and her horse. The horse did nothing to show that the cold bothered him, but her body betrayed their strong sight as a shudder racked her body. She was a Nord, but she wasn't use to cold. She lived in warmer climates where her mages robes and outfits were even too much to bear in the heat.

Dane needed to make her warmer clothing. Nera would bring that up with him when she arrived home. Fur lined cape like Drayce's. minus the iron lining. She wasn't meant to carry weight. She needed to be light and no doubt the fur lined cape would be heavy enough. She would keep this horse alive and use it as a coat hanger when she didn't use it. With a smile she settled her thought and raised her hands. A soft blue mist covered one hand as she activated clairvoyance. The path lead behind her back at the fork she passed.

Her hand dropped and she turned her horse around to follow that path. She was off to become the greatest mage of all Tamriel. She would become it too. No one could stop her and her family would help her. She'd expect nothing less.


	7. Chapter 7

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Seven

**"The** last thing I need is to go see some monks!" Drayce shouted as she entered the hideout. Not only did Garret trail her but Dancer. He had seen her being dragged to Dragonsreach by Garret and just had to see what was so big that she was in Whiterun. Before entering, Garret had pulled her braid free and let her rowdy curly hair cover the shaved sides. He placed the cape back around her shoulders before the cape up to cover her face and then took her necklace from him so she would not be so easily recognized.

It had worked only because he gave her another name to go by and the Jarl had brushed her off like someone he didn't know. Now she was being sent to High Hrothgar. The last place she wanted to go was to some temple with monks. She pulled the cape off her shoulders and tossed it onto the tallest chair once again before disappearing into the tunnels to her room.

Garret ignored the table at first and went over to the salted rabbit meat that hung by the wardrobe. He pulled it off the rack before bringing it over to the fire pit next to the oven. He pulled the chair that the cape had been tossed on over by the wall and used the space in front of him to cut strips off the rabbit with his dagger before bringing them to cook over the fire.

"That is nasty you know." Dane spoke as he walked up to a space between two chairs. "You kill people with those daggers and now you are cutting food with those said daggers." Garret frowned and looked at his daggers. They were cleaned as he soon as he had a ready supply of water on hand. Hell he washed them on the way to Whiterun at the waterfall and river outside their hideout.

"I keep them clean." Garret slid the dagger back into his sheath at his hip and set the rest of the rabbit back on the hook. "What does that paper say?" He asked. The rabbit refused to go back on the hook and he had to pull down as he pressed the rabbit in so the damned meat would catch.

He could hear the chair move again as Dane leaned over the table. "I got bored and wanted to do something so I went off to explore Skyrim….By the way Garret, I never got your armor. You should probably go get it or have someone else. I don't plan on getting it or coming back for a bit. –Sybel." Garret snapped around and came to the table the next instance.

"You've got to be kidding me." Garret snarled before calling his name. He was met with nothing but the echoes of his vice and Dane's breathing. "I ask one thing of him and he decides to shove it and go off sightseeing." He turned back on Dane. "His interpretation of sight seeing is seeing countless women's beds."

"I don't see why. He can't flirt worth a damn." Dane remarked.

"Neither can you Dancer." Drayce re-entered the room wearing her baggy worn commoners clothes. Garret went to open his mouth but she cut him off. "Get your own armor. I have not slept straight through the night in days and I want some sleep and a good meal before I think to set off High Hrothgar."

"But-" Garret went to argue but his sister set him straight with a black fire that could see a man's soul if dealt with wrongly.

Drayce pulled up a chair directly across from the opening, pulling it out far enough for her to set her boots on the table. They were leather with soles thick enough to protect the wearers feet, but not thick enough to hinder motion and flexibility. The boots were the only leather material on her besides her belt that kept her pants up. Her hair was still out of its braid, but she would probably wait until she had to bathe before putting it back to where it belonged.

"What did you honestly expect? This is Sybel. He buries sweet rolls and dumplings and whines when he stubs his toes. He can't even sit for five minutes before he is getting up and running about." Drayce moved her hands in time to her words, a habit she had since a child. "He is a leaf that blows in the wind. Never in one place for too long."

"She is right, surprisingly." Dane spoke.

"Well of course I'm right. I'm always right Dancer." Drayce

**Nera** was back in Saarthal. Tolfdir had told them about how this was a capital of great city until the Snow Elves attacked. Ysgramor and his sons had been the only ones to escape and now they were searching the ruins for anything of interest. She had come here at first with the other lower leveled mages, but she couldn't stand being near the idiots. They didn't seem to know half as many spells as she did and she just couldn't deal with them. They annoyed her so she went back to their home, grabbed Drayce and went shopping…with Drayce's money.

She slipped down the middle column where they had first walked down and then entered the tunnel that led to the next open room. There were makeshift bridges and staging along the walls or connecting the columns, guiding her down to where Arniel was waiting. He had technically been there for a bit since she left him while finding artifacts. She had them all in her satchel…she just forgot to give them to him.

Nera walked into the room where she picked up the last ring and turned toward the fire. In front of the fire was a door that held an amulet. She never bothered to look over here because she didn't see anything at first. Now that she had come back she saw the amulet clear as day. She must have missed it at the time because she was raging over Arniel calling her an apprentice mage. It was the last thing she was. Nerana was a genius.

The amulet came off its resting place easy enough and she fought a smile as she traced the design on the amulet. She turned on her heel and started back to Arniel when she saw that the entrance was blocked by iron bars. If she swore, we should have dropped the f bomb at least six times. She was a genius? No she was an idiot for forgetting that obviously this place would be trapped. The nords for famous for their traps and puzzles and here she was waltzing right in and trying to take something that obviously didn't belong to her. Nera grabbed hold of the bars and pulled them, knowing that they wouldn't move, but frustrated none the less. She should have gone shopping elsewhere before returning here.

Tolfdir's figure was seen as he came running into the room. Arniel obviously could care less that she was trapped seeing that he was still hunched over the book in front of him. "What in the world was that racket?" He looked up and down at the bars then at her who still gripped the bars. "Are you alright?"

"I'm trapped in here!" Nera snapped at him.

The old man shook his head at her, but it obvious the man had a grin on his face."How in the world did that happen?"

"I pulled an amulet off the wall." Nera pressed her face against the bars as Tolfdir raised his right hand and scratched his chin. He looked at the other entrance and saw the bars there as well then back at the amulet she had dangling from one hand.

"Really? Perhaps the amulet is important somehow? Is there some way you can use it?" Amulets had to be worn to be used so she pulled it over her head and then slipped her hair out from its grip. As soon as it settled on her Tolfdir's mouth dropped. She looked at him confused before turning around to see the red haze slipping from where the amulet had once rested. "Did you see that?"

**Drayce** sat at the table nibbling on a slice of cheese. She had some fish and cooked pheasant breast for breakfast. She had been forced to make it herself since Sybel wasn't here and Dancer and Garret left. Garret went off to Solitude to get his armor before doing anything else for the Jarl and Dancer went back to the Skyforge. The man was obsessed with the thing. They had their own forge here, but he wanted to use the Skyforge because it was the best one in all of Skyrim.

What was she doing today? She was going to take her horse to High Hrothgar and meet these monks. Wait… the dragon killed her horse. Drayce slouched in her chair as she let out a whine. She didn't want to buy another horse. They were a thousand gold a piece and that was just too much a waste of the gold she had. Maybe if she was getting work like she use to, this wouldn't be a problem, but she wasn't so she couldn't spending all her coin. Especially since Nera lived off her family's gold rather than her own.

She stuffed a large piece of cheese into her mouth as she stared above her. Walking…walking. She would need her goat skin for some water on the way there and some cooked strips of fish or beef to snack on the way there. With Nera most of her food went to the brat while they traveled and they rarely slept for long periods, which was surprising seeing that Nera and Garret were power nappers. If there was free time it was spent sleeping. Well if not sleeping for Garret then fucking.

A piece of cheese lodged in her throat and she had to cough a few times to get the piece free so she could finish chewing the piece then continue to swallow. She had never been to High Hrothgar, but she would ask some people around Whiterun to where it was. Since she hadn't bathed and her hair was still in curls surrounding her face she could easily just walked down there now in her commoners clothing and ask around. It was her best option. She could buy some fruit as well and take that in a pack with her. No horse though. She would have to remind herself not to buy another horse less it be slaughtered again by another Dragon.

The travel there and back was easy enough. No guards harassed her and no one hit on her. She was just some random traveler wearing clothes way too big for herself. She found that High Hrothgar was on a mountain, the mountain that there hideout was under, but the only way to get there was by going through Ivarstead and climbing the steps. They hadn't clarified beyond that so she assumed it wasn't to high on the mountain.

She made it back into the hideout and jogged over to the waterfall. There were thicker blanketed materials sitting in a wardrobe on one side of the entrance from the mini mountain. They were used to dry themselves off after their baths in the water fall. The water wasn't stuck in place but drained out. Where she did not know and did not care. She stripped out of her clothes and waded into the water, throwing herself under to soak her hair. Bath's were nice and they would help tame her hair back into the braid Garret had let it out of.

Bath time came and went quickly and she had to get herself ready. She didn't dress until her hair was combed and braided and then she padded up to the dining area and started cooking strips of salted fish and beef for her trip. Her bag of apples was on the table, but she would sort them out as soon as she was done getting dressed.

**Garret** had thought about walking all the way to Solitude. He really did, but then he realized he didn't like walking. He realized it as soon as he walked by the Whiterun stables and bought a horse on impulse. He had it saddled and threw his body up onto it right after. He didn't have take Drayce's cape this time…or her bow. She slept with the damned thing to keep him from taking it, but he had two pairs of daggers. His dragon bone and simple iron ones we used as throwing knives more than anything. It helped entertain him as he trotted along the path.

Morthal was his first place to pass by. It was quiet with very little action going on what so ever. Then again it was early in the morning and people were probably busy with themselves at the moment. Garret led the horse across the bridge and out of the small town. He could have stopped and decided to call it a day but it didn't even take him three hours to ride up and to Morthal. He could make it make it to Solitude by early morning, grab his armor and then start back home. He would stay in an inn that wasn't the Winking Skeever and then head back to Whiterun when he was rested.

Simple.

He drew an apple from his pouch and leaned over his saddle to offer the apple to the horse. He turned his head and bit into the apple. Garret had definitely worked this horse good, but as long as he let the horse have his breaks here and there he would have no trouble bringing Garret to Solitude. The horse would be well fed when they take a break higher up when they were at least halfway to Solitude, a river most likely.

It took the horse a few chomps but he finished the apple quick enough and Garret tossed the remaining core onto the ground off the road so no un lucky wagon rider would have to worry about anything destroying a trip that was possibly bringing them to their new life. Like the Khajiit caravans that traveled through Skyrim. Why they didn't remain in Elsweyr where there people weren't ridiculed was beyond them, but obviously their fur was thick enough to ignore it. Or embrace it. Whichever it was for them.

"Walk faster, damn it!" There was a shout above them and he could see a poor man being dragged along by a bunch of guards. The man was hobbling, something protruding from the back of his knee. If the man expected him to walk fast like that he was seriously mislead.

"I don't know how many times I have told you this, but I have an arrow in my knee. An arrow. It doesn't help that I can barely see at the moment." His ear twitched at the voice. He was too far away to know for sure so he hastened his horse, bring him to a trot. He didn't want to charge full speed at a bunch of guards with nothing more than a few daggers if he really didn't know who the person was.

At twenty or so feet away he could make out the clothing his brother had been wearing the last time he saw the idiot. Sybel had a ragged cloth drawn around his face and he had his arms bound along with a chain being pulled by the guards dragging him. Garret encouraged his horse to go a little faster until he was at the sides of the guards. The female shot him an annoyed look. "Move on, Imperial business."

"Imperial business in Morthal. I'm pretty sure the Imperials belong in Solitdue." He glanced over at Sybel who now stopped dead in his tracks. The guard holding the chain yanked and he watched Sybel's bad leg give out and his brother slam down hard on his knees. He started cursing the guard left and right.

"Imperials are welcomed everywhere. We rid Skyrim of crooks and bastards." The woman spoke again.

"What is his offense?" Garret nodded his head over to Sybel just as the guard came over and clubbed him outside the head. Garret tightened his hands on the horses reign to keep him from jumping off the horse and slaughtering the man.

"He is a Stormcloak spy." She spoke, her shoulders and chest held high in Pride. "We are merely helping our brothers in sisters in war from falling to his evil clutches." Poor thing thought she was tough. He threw his leg over the horse and slid down onto the ground. She barely reached his upper chest, but yet she refused to cringe or back down from him.

"For the last time I am not a Stormcloack. You shouldn't have even been in there. The inn is right fucking next to Windhelm. If anything you were trespassing on enemy ground." Sybel hissed. The guard hit him again. Garret shot the guards a murderous glare.

"This man is no Stormcloak. He is a poor excuse of a womanizer and despises war. You wouldn't see him fight for either you or Ulfric." He spoke smoothly. "I want him released." The guard that had hit his brother turned to look at him.

"You've got to be joking." The man laughed at him. "We are the Imperial guards of Skyrim. We follow the orders of General Tullius, not some commoner nord like you." The man continued to laugh, yanking on the chains holding Sybel once again. His brother was yanked forward and almost met the ground but he caught himself and held fast.

"You can let him go, or you can die slow and painfully." The man's laughed died out and before anyone could say Sweet Rolls they had their swords drawn and were attacking him. He punched the female in the throat, effectively knocking her to the ground and pulled his iron dagger free of its sheath. The man who had been striking Sybel came at him with a very sloppy stance and was easily thrown off balance with a quick kick to the leg. As the man stumbled Garret buried the dagger in the man's spine and left it there. The next two rushed him and he removed his good daggers and blocked them. They went down fairly easy as well.

The woman was still on the ground coughing, but he left her alone so he could undo the shackles from his wrists and the rag from his face. His brother was covered in blood and wreaked of nothing but blood. His front was covered with dozens of cuts and when Garret pulled the shirt apart he was greeted by bruises and more bruises. There was a huge vicious bruise covering his left side along his ribs and when he poked at it Sybel hissed and told him to fuck off. "Oh shut up. How the hell did you end up here anyway?"

"I was so close to getting laid, but that little harlot wasn't really a farmer's daughter and she drugged me somehow." Garret helped his brother up and walked him over to the house before throwing him over it. "Thanks. Not like there isn't an arrow in my knee or anything. Being shoved right against the horse is just what I needed!" Sybel shouted before having a coughing fit. Garret ignored his brother and walked over to the woman who was crab walking away from them. She was the only survivor of this group. _Not for long._ He crouched and snatched her leg quick, dragging her back over to him and then holding her down by her throat.

"You didn't think I was going to let someone who hurt my brother live did you?" He was sure the smile he gave her was what made her scream in fear.


	8. Chapter 8

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter Eight

**Da'Virr** rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was doing a job in a Whiterun to plant false evidence to get some man run out of his meadery for Maven Black-Briar. She was in their home here in Skryim, but no one else was here. All but Dancer remained and even he was rarely home. He spent his days in Whiterun and nights in their home so he wasn't even home at the moment. Then again she should probably get going herself. She needed to finish this job so she can hurry up and go back to Riften.

Slipping out of her bed she grabbed another suit of thin armor, similar to her other but a midnight blue with a skyblue apron that hung at the middle of her legs and was connected to a thin belt that wrapped around her body. They had given her armor of their own, but she found that too many thieves got caught wearing the garb that she would rather just wear her own clothing. It hid enough and blended well when she needed it. Since this job wasn't about hiding in the shadows she didn't worry about her sky blue apron made of a material thicker than silk but with the same texture.

Honningbrew Meadery was a big building off from the entrance of Whiterun. It stood out, but wasn't all in your face. There was a second building next to it, probably the meadery she needed to poison. Da'Virr entered the Meadery where Sabjorn into the counter. He seemed like a middle aged nord with no hair on his head and the starting of a shadow on his face. He wore an opened necked tunic that was brought close to his forearm with deep rich copper colored cuffs. She couldn't see much else besides the fact that it seemed he had used a slightly darker patch of cloth to fix the tunic at his left shoulder.

"What are you gawking at? Can't you see I have a problem here?" He snapped at her.

Well no she could not see any but soon she would and it would be his face no longer being on his head but on the floor. She forced herself to look concerned though it didn't matter since he couldn't see any of her face, but did it anyway to help her solidify this act. "Is something wrong?"

He shifted on his feet and glared holes into her, his hands now crossed over his chest. "Are you kidding me? Look at this place." She did, but it looked like every other meadery she had robbed in pass here in Skyrim. "I'm supposed to be holding a tasting of the new Honningbrew Reserve for the Captain of the Guard. If he sees the meadery in this state, I'll be ruined." Well then he should plan on being ruined.

"I might be able to help." She offered.

The man looked skeptical as he responded to her offer. "Oh really? And I don't suppose you'd do it out of the kindness of your heart, would you?"

"Well of course-"

"I hope you're not expecting to get paid until the job's done." Arrogant little fucker. She snickered at him, now angry that he interrupted her. She stood straight and spread her legs in a pose of strength.

"If you want to be rude and interrupt me, you better pay me or I'll go running up and down Whiterun screaming 'skeever.'"She snarled at him. His expression changed from arrogance to fear quickly enough. To emphasize her plans she turned to go do just that.

"Okay, okay! No need to make rash decisions. Here's half. You can get the rest when the job is done." She turned around to look back at him. He still looked scared. A look she liked on Sabjorn. She was the superior one. Not him."My only demand is that these vermin are permanently eliminated before my reputation is completely destroyed."

"How do you want me 'permanently' clear all the vermin?" Da'Virr asked.

"I bought some poison. I was going to have my lazy good-for-nothing assistant Mallus handle is, but seems to have vanished." Yeah, check the inn in Whiterun. There is your Mallus. "If you plant this in the vermin's nest, it should stop them from ever coming back." He reached under him and pulled up the pest poison she would be using. She grabbed it and then the key when he pulled it from his pouch. "Don't come back until every one of those nasty little things is dead." The money came last and she tucked the money pouch into her armor at her chest for safe keeping.

Da'Virr left him at the counter and walked through the door to her right. It led into a big room filled with mead barrels after mead barrels. She closed the door behind her and walked around the room first, surveying the area. What did she want? What could she have? There was a stray mead bottle on one of the barrels and she grabbed it, ripping the cork from the top. She yanked her face mask down and then took a swig of the mead.

"Just a little extra for dealing with such a nasty man." She commented to herself before taking another much larger swig.

**Garert** had to come back through Morthal to find some sort of healer. He needed potions, but the lady lacked healing potions at the moment. She had potions for everything else, but not any healing potions. It was useless. He had asked around, but he kept getting sent back to the damned potion keeper. Sybel was on his shoulder, whining whenever Garret walked to fast or jostled him too much. Little bitch was lucky he wasn't dumping his ass on the road and going off to Solitude. He already had to go back to the guards dead bodies and search through their gear to get Sybel's armor and weapons.

His brother was rubbing him the wrong way.

"My fucking ribs. Hello. I can barely breathe as it is, I don't need you to keep ramming your shoulder into my already broken ribs." Sybel shouted at him.

"Shut up. You are too heavy to carry like a woman and I can't go around asking everyone for a healer while on a horse. I actually have to enter stores and inns you know." Garret shifted his brother on his shoulder, trying to make it more comfortable for Sybel, but the man still had an arrow lodged in his knee that he had yet to remove and it was already tearing his nice shirt. He had broken it close to knee, so it wouldn't have to deal with the entire shaft getting in his way.

He caught a mages robe from the corner of his eye and turned sharply to find a man walking down a boardwalk. He was wearing a black mages robe and he could see a dagger sheath moving with his legs as he power walked away from them. Garret tightened his hold on his brother's knees, making Sybel spew curses left to right as the arrow shifted forward. Garret felt some of the broken wood pieces bite into his skin, but ignored it as he jogged after the mage.

Sybel wheezed his arms grabbing hold of Garret's side to try and steady himself, but it obviously didn't help him when Garret took to the stairs. "I. Hate. You." He spoke between wheezes.

"Shut up, Sybel." He grated as he caught up with the mage. "Hey." He called. The man stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulders. Garret saw the man's dark skinned face. When he saw that Garret had his brother on his shoulder he turned around completely.

'What is it?" He asked.

"Are you a mage or are you just wearing those robes to fuck with people?" Garret asked. Sybel was still swearing and repeating that he hated him, but Garret ignored him.

"I am a mage. I specialize in conjuring." He spoke.

"Do you know any healing spells or have any healing potions. The people hear seem to know nothing and I only know how to heal myself not others." He asked. The man tilted his head to the side.

"I don't know any healing spells myself, but I do have some healing potions in my home." He spoke. He was hesitant in continuing to speak to him though. "I don't come by them often as well and I'm not about to just give them away."

"I will pay you. I just need to heal my idiot right here." He patted his brother's leg.

It took a few seconds, but the man inclined his head in acceptance and walked past him. Garret turned and followed him to his home. The man held the door open for him and he came into the small house and set his brother down on a chair at a table. He would have brought him to the bed, but he didn't know these people well enough and it would be considered rude to intrude on not only their home, but their beds as well.

"You fucker. I am your dear loving brother who does nothing but help out the entire family. I cook and clean and sew…badly sew, but sew none the less. I even wash clothes and clean weapons when you pigs are too tired to do it yourself. I'm not some idiot-" Garret caught off his brother overdramatic rambling with a hand over his mouth.

"Shut up or I will smash in your knee cap. Alright?" he waited until Sybel nodded before removing his hand. The mage had entered behind him and closed his door. He sauntered over to his chest and opened it with a key. He pulled out a heavy potion bottle and then closed the chest, locking it once more.

"I want three hundred gold for it." The man said.

"Well that's a-" Sybel began.

'Knee cap." Garret snapped at him before fishing for his coin purse. He didn't bother to count how much gold, just tossed the coin purse at him. He held his hand out for the potion and waited for the mage to place it in his grip. He knelt in front of Sybel and gripped the knee that had the arrow with one strong hand. "Try not to scream." Using his other hand, Garret gripped the arrowhead at the back of his knee and yanked. Sybel shouted from the pain, but didn't scream, just held onto the arm rests of the chair as tightly as possible.

**Ivarstead** was boring as shit. It was bland and looked boring. The path she had to take up here had a saber cat that decided it liked to eat traveling women so she had kill that thing. She had her cape back and her bow was safely strapped to her back along with her quiver of arrows. Entering Ivarstead there was a small farm with a home to her left with a grindstone for wheat and then a mill a head of her to her right. Before the mill there was a bridge, but she ignored it since there was no sing she saw to tell her where it led.

Drayce walked around the town, the guards and people talking about. She needed High Hrothgar. There must have been a path to the place and she was told it was only accessible through Ivarstead.

She walked up to the Inn where the path seemed to continued through a bridge, but lead away from the mountain. Maybe the bridge she first saw was the way to go. When she glanced at it quickly there was some stairs at the end and then a two men talking at the actual bridge.

A woman with short brown hair wearing a worn belted dress and she caught the woman's arm and drew her in. She let out a gasp and looked at her. "I'm not going to hurt you. How do I get to High Hrothgar?" She asked. The woman relaxed instantly and Drayce let go of her arm.

"The bridge when you first enter the town leads to stairs. You have to climb the seven thousand steps to High Hrothgar." She said simply.

"Seven thousand?" Drayce knew she was gaping. She probably looked like an idiot but she couldn't help it.

"Yes, seven thousand steps," The woman assured her. "Normally people who ask of Hrothgar are already aware of the seven thousand steps. It is almost at the top of the mountain. Is that all you need me for?" Drayce nodded and the woman left chuckling. Yeah, she really must have looked shocked. Drayce rubbed the bridge of her nose with her left hand while her right hand rested on her hip. Seven thousand steps.

Drayce walked back over to the bridge at the beginning and crossed it. The stairs in front of her seemed like they were teasing her, making fun of her. Seven thousand steps couldn't be that much. She followed the mountain up and watched it as the top disappeared through the clouds. "Seven thousand steps…" she stepped forward and brought her foot up to the first stair. "Seven thousand steps." She repeated.

She looked back up the mountain again. Seven. Thousand. Steps.

"Yeah, fuck that." She turned and walked away. Nera would love to walk the seven thousand steps to see a bunch of men wearing dresses meditating in the cold harsh winds of the Skyrim winds above the world.

**Garret** had healed and then left Sybel. Just ditched him like that. Sybel had limped his way over to the horse, the potion quickly spreading through his body to heal his injured body. The mage he found, was named Falion and he an adopted a young orphan girl. Garret had thank him and then left the house directly after. Sybel followed him over to Garret's horse and Garret tossed Sybel's armor and weapons at him.

"Stay in the inn and this time, don't get caught by Imperial guards. I have to go to Solitude and get my armor before anything else comes up." Garret snarled.

"You are going to just leave me here?"

"Yes. You will be fully healed soon, all you need is a good night's rest at the inn and then to head back home. Adventuring isn't your forte." With that Garret left him. Now he was lying in a room rented from Falion's brother and staring at the ceiling. He had yet to put his armor back on. His ribs hurt were still to tender for any restricting clothing or weapons to rub him the wrong way. This town was too small to find a quick lay, but he wasn't returning home. He knew that. Sybel was going back on his adventure and not fucking any person of the Imperial race. Last thing he needed was to be caught by another fucking Imperial.

He bent his knee on the bed and let his other hang off the bed. He was far from Windhelm. That had been his intended place since he had never really gone into Windhelm. He still wanted to go, but it would have to wait until he was no longer gasping for air when he walked to fast.

The image of Sylori came to mind. "How can such a pretty little piece of arse be so dangerous?" Sybel groaned as he covered his face with his arm.

Morning came quickly and Sybel could stretch his arms above his head with only a slight twinge of pain, but it was definitely bearable. His knee was fine to walk on so he dressed back into his armor and strapped his weapons back onto his body. He grabbed a quick bite before leaving and then started backtracking the path the Imperials had taken him.

He would make it Windhelm by the end of the day if not into the next if he didn't stray from his path. That meant not sleeping with anyone. He would do the fucking when he was safe inside the walls of Windhelm. He was sure there were some pretty ladies in need of some loving.


	9. Chapter 9

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

*Note to reader: I'm not sure why the transits aren't showing, but I do have them. They are the stars. D: I'm still too new to this site. Any help?

Chapter 9

**It** took Garret another day before he reached Solitude. It was nighttime but the Winking Skeever was open and that's all he needed. The guards looked his way, but he turned his head away from them and walked through the door of the Winking Skeever. He walked over to Vinius and asked for his suit back. The man was behind his counter as usual, but quickly walked out from behind it and led him to his safe room. No one besides his eldest child and Garret knew where it was.

The safe room was in the basement. As soon as they walked down the stairs the first reserve on its side. Behind was a curved stone wall, but part of it slid down. There was a bar similar to the one that opened their home, hidden under the reserve and once it was pulled it open to show a small armory. On a mannequin his dragon armor showed proudly with his weapons resting in display cases on small wardrobes.

"Thank you old friend." He said with a smile, patting his hand onto Vinius's shoulder. Vinius nodded his head and walked away to continue working and Garret changed into his armor. It made him a hell of lot more noticeable and it was a heavy piece of armor. Not meant for running. He normally kept his regular clothes under just as Sybel did with his own light armor that way he could easily strip and hide. This armor was meant for hiding or running though. It was meant to stand a fight and until he back to High Rock to get some of his other armor he would wear this and his own clothes.

If he had to he would buy some more armor or have Dane make him a good piece of tough light armor to wear so he could move easier. At least dragonscale armor would be helpful. While it was on the heavier side of light armor, it still allowed more freedom of movement than dragonplate armor. Once Garret was changed he closed the room, bought a Sweet Roll off Vinius and left the Winking Skeever.

There was still a guard watching him when he left, but he quickly left Solitude itself and went back to his horse. Last thing he needed was to deal with some more Imperial soldiers. He was starting to gain a severe hatred of the bastards after killing the group torturing Sybel.

He passed by a guard who actually stumbled when looking at him. Yeah, be scared. He might not have his helmet on, but he still had the rest of his armor and weapons on his, plus the extra daggers he took with him. Garret made it over to the horse stables down the hill from the main road and strapped the weapons he knew he wasn't going to use on this journey. The extra one handed axe and his other two dagger and his heavier two handed axe.

Garret planned on going back home before visiting Ulfric in his home in Windhelm. He wanted to know why he wasn't guarding his hold like he should. His brother should have never been taken like that when the inn wasn't even an hour away from the bridge into Windhelm. If he was so keen on not letting the Empire take over Skyrim he should take of his own hold.

**Drayce** wasn't expecting to run into the man she had shoved back in the Thieves Guild. He was still wearing the same armor from earlier. He had introduced himself as Rune. He apparently wasn't expecting to run into her either, but now here they were on their way to Winterhold. He asked why she didn't have a horse and she explained that her sister had already bankrupted her enough with everything she had bought the past week. He asked if she was talking about the one that was hiding behind her when he first met her and then he started to ask about the places she had been.

Rune hadn't been outside of Skyrim, but he had been all around Skyrim. She told him of their more used home in High Rock that had everything they needed. She talked of Cyrodiil and the stuck up Imperial bastards there and then the Aldmeri dominion. Rune found Cyrodiil interesting along with her remarks on his race. Elsweyr was something that took way too long to describe. There was desert land that stretched for endless miles and then thick forests that would sometimes be impossible to navigate through. The thief was interested enough in her explanations, but she didn't about herself. The places she had been, yes, but not herself.

"So why is your name Rune?" She asked.

"I was found by a fisherman and the only thing I had on me had been a rune. He saw it fitting to name me after it." He spoke.

"Really? So you don't know your real family?" Drayce looked at him. He wasn't much taller than her. Then again, it was hard to find someone who towered over her and wasn't Garret. He scratched his chin before looking at her.

"I asked around. My adoptive father didn't know anything about them and when since joining the thieves guild I have spent just about all my gold trying to find more about them." Drayce nodded. "then again, It's a bit hard to find anything about yourself when you don't know anything about yourself to begin with."

"Perhaps, Nerana can help you." She offered.

"That is the youngest one right? The one who hid behind you?" Rune asked.

"Yes. She is a genius. She is up at Winterhold with the mages in the college. She knows bits and pieces of the little things. She could help you find out something about your past. If not her, then a mage there. Hell they have a library from what Nera has told me. The rune could be in there." Drayce spoke. She expected Rune was going towards that way for a job, but she didn't bring it up since the Thieves Guild was all about secrecy.

Rune's face lit up at the thought. Obviously this was a big deal for him. She didn't understand wanting to know more about a family you never knew. Even after she was old enough to know that Garret had only found her and kept her alive, using her old home as a temporary shelter. She came from a small town and there was nothing special about a small town. Especially a small farm like the one she was born on. Her parents were nothing so there would be no reason to look for nothing. If she had been anything then people would have went to the farm to check on her and found her with skeevers all over the place. It was obvious her parents were no fighters. They died in their sleep from skeevers attacking them. A fighter would have heard them and would have fought after the first bite. It was obvious her actual parents were weak idiots.

"What about you? Da'Virr said that you were all raised without parents. That your older brother was the one who took care of you. What happened with that?" Rune was still looking at her. She could see from the corner of her eye.

"No offense, but my family isn't something I talk about with strangers. We are a family. That is all you need to know." She answered him.

"Alright. Understandable. Are you planning on walking the entire day and night to Winterhold?" Rune dropped the family topic and switched to their destination.

**Da'Virr** lay across a bed in the Cistern. She was pretty sure Rune slept here, but he wasn't here so now it was her bed. She finished with the last quest, but she hadn't gotten a new one yet. Brynjolf was sending her away with one, but not at the moment. She was trying to get the man to loosen up and let her a little closer. There were a few things she had been planning on doing with him, but so far nothing helped. Saphire, Vex and Tonila were the only other girls in the Guild at the moment and they sure as hell didn't show any interest in being with Byrnjolf.

No one here seemed like the type to discriminate so she didn't see what she was doing wrong here. She thought she was attractive. She believed she was gorgeous. Garret and Sybel had agreed. Then again the people who lived here were prejudiced against anyone who wasn't a nord. Traveling all around Tameriel, the only prejudice family member was Drayce and to this day no one knew why. Everyone else in her family loved all races. Maybe not loved sleeping with all races, but they didn't hate Orcs just cause or want to kill every Dunmer they saw like Drayce did.

"Men. I don't understand them." She looked around again and saw people walking about the Cistern still. Mercer Fry was at his desk in the back, the shelves completely empty behind him as if they hadn't done anything in the longest time. Da'Virr thought about talking to Mercer, but he was a straight up jerk. He was constantly rude to her. She would try and strike up a conversation with him and he would send her away with a snarl on his face. What if she tried again? She hadn't talked to him since before her job in Whiterun so he had to be in a better mood. Just one more time and if he sent her away again then she would leave that sour old man alone for the remainder of his life…after finding where he lived and robbing him blind.

She got from her bed and slowly walked over to him. Her hood was drawn back and her mask down from her face to show her face. Mercer was bent over his book when she walked over. When she was in front of his desk he looked up with that ugly crooked smile on his face. This man had something wrong with him. "Ah, there you are. I've consulted my contacts regarding the information you recovered from the Goldenglow Estate, but no one can identify the symbol."

Ah…he was in a talkative mood. And it was about the symbol. "I saw the same symbol in the Honningbrew Meadery." Another odd little thing.

Mercer stood to his full height, which wasn't much because she was almost the same height as him."It would seem our adversary is attempting to take us apart indirectly by angering Maven Black-Briar. Very Clever."

She needed to remain on his good side so she chose wisely in what she spoke."Clever or not, they need to die." Mercer shook his head at her. Well that was a failure. She needed to be more careful then in what she said.

"Don't dismiss our adversary so easily. They're well-funded, patient and have been able to avoid identification for years…However, don't mistake my admiration for complacency; our nemesis is going to pay dearly." He rolled his shoulders back and then his head around. He was probably stiff and in some discomfort from being hunched over the desk for so long. He was looking through a book that most likely held every single job they had done since they started the Thieves Guild. It would explain why it was such a big book.

"How?" Da'Virr asked.

"Because, even after all their posturing and planning, they've made a mistake." Mercer went back to his hunched position after his little stretch and continued to speak, "The parchment you recovered mentions a 'Gajul-Lei'. According to my sources, that's an old alias used by one of our contacts. His real name is Gulum-Ei. Slimy bastard." The last comment was made under his breath.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Gulum-Ei is our inside man at the East Empire Company in Solitude. I'm betting he acted as a go-between for the sale of the Goldenglow Estate and that he can finger our buyer. Get out there, shake him down and see what you can come up with. Talk to Brynjol before you leave if you have any questions." Oh, Brynjolf! He would have to talk to her now. Once again though, it was over a job. She wanted to punch something in her frustration.

Da'Virr nodded and turned. She only moved from the desk when she spotted Brynjolf over by the cooking pot over the fire. He seemed to be making something and he was slightly bent over the pot, giving her a nice view of a very well shaped butt. Da'Virr practically skipped over to him. It wasn't silent, but oh well. This wasn't a job. Brynjolf look up at her when she came into his view. He stood from the cooking spit as she opened her mouth to talk, "I need a little more about this Gulum-Ei character."

"I can't believe he would be mixed up in all of this. The damned Argonian couldn't find his own tail with both his hands." She lifted a quizzical brow. "Don't get me wrong, he could scam a beggar out of his last septim…but he's no mastermind."

"Think he'll give me trouble?" She asked.

"Trouble?" He barked out a laugh suddenly and she watched his hand go to his belly as if to calm it down. "He's one of the most stubborn lizards I've ever met! You have you work cut out for you."

Great. "So how am I supposed to get him to talk?"

Brynjolf bit his lip slightly and she fought the urge to take the lip from him and bite it herself. Well that was a naughty thought. Normally those were saved for the likes of Drayce and the boys. Well not Dancer. He never mentioned his attractions to females, males or otherwise. "You're going to have to buy him off; it's the only way to get his attention." Her money! "If that fails, follow him and see what he's up to. If I know Gulum-Ei, he's in way over his head and you'll be able to use it as leverage."

He obviously knew this Argonian man well. Threatening his life would just anger him. "Betrayed or not, I'll let him live." Brynjolf nodded his head in acceptance.

"I'm glad to see you're embracing our methods. It would be a waste to lose a contact at the East Empire Company before we had the entire story." If she could jump up and down like a little girl without being slapped across the head she would.

"Thank you." She purred before walking to the exit behind him. She pulled herself up the latter and out the hole it led through. After replacing the lid she pulled on the chain embedded in the stone wall and watched the stone ceiling above her recede. Da'Virr pulled the switch again as soon as the ceiling was fully retracted and then ran up the stairs before it closed on her and crushed whatever was caught.

It was time to travel to Solitude.

**Nera** was practically out of breath as she run up the bridge that led into the college. She had been running all around the place. Her horse had to be healed multiple times on her journeys and she felt like she hadn't slept in days…Wait a minute, she hadn't slept in days. Naps had been her forte. When she could she would sneak quick naps along the road, sleeping on a soft piece of grass here and there. She had brought thick and silky quilts to sleep on as her bed rolls that she had carried on her horses back and she would only sleep hidden in the forest off the path so that thugs and foresworn wouldn't attack her for being dressed so nicely.

She entered through the open gates of the college and followed the path to the Hall of Elements. The door was almost too heavy for her to bear, but she got the damned thing opened and closed. In the middle of the hall was the Eye of Magnus, spinning and glowing in all its glory. It was a gorgeous sight to be held and she almost felt like she had some sort of connection with the staff.

Tearing her eyes away from its beauty was painful, but necessary as she jogged over to Tolfdir. He was still admiring the eye and he must have found some sort of way to move it over into the hall since the last time she saw it, it was under Saarthal and there was a very nasty Draugr guarding it. Wasn't a complete waste since she got his staff and a fragment to some necklace of his.

"It's always encouraging to see the younger generations embracing education." Well the hall was filled with the people of the college. She honestly felt like telling them to hop off. This was her discovery.

"Urag suggested I come see you." She would have come earlier when she brought the books back to Urag to begin with, but she had to grab something she had left behind like an idiot and now she was here to finally speak with him.

"Did he now? Does he have information about our wonderful discovery?" He asked.

Nera felt like she was about to throw up a lung, but she spoke anyways…well as best as she could while gasping for air. "I found a book. Night of…Tears."

"Is that the one about something buried beneath Saarthal? Something that men and mer fought over? I'll have to make a point on re-reading it. I don't recall the details." She nodded her head vigorously in agreement. "I just can't seem to tear myself away." Would explain why he had not once looked at her since this conversation started, but that was okay, she wasn't much to look at right now at the moment. "Whatever this is, its beauty is like nothing I've ever seen before. If you'd allow me to indulge myself for a moment, I thought I might make a few observations…"

All she could do was agree with him. It would give her a break. She crouched down and rested her hand on the floor to help keep her steady as she focused on her breathing. A guard had stopped her just outside Winterhold and made her get off her horse and put him in a makeshift stable. They didn't want any horses running about to possibly injure anybody. Since she was in a hurry she had to literally run all the way through Winterhold and up to the college via bridge. She tuned everyone out as she forced her heart to relax.

Nera let him walk away to talk to the surrounding mages since she was obviously of no use to him being crouched to the ground like she was about to die. The man went off talking about the eye, walking a semicircle. It took her a full minute before she could actually stand, but by then the damned Thalmor walked in like he owned the place. She didn't hear the first part but she caught the last. "It is urgent that I speak with your associate immediately."

Tolfdir turned from the Eye and snapped at Ancano. "This is most inappropriate! We are involved in serious research here!" Nera got from her crouched position and walked over to them. Ancano could only be described as ugly. He had medium length white hair and yellowish skin. His nose was pointed as well as his chin and ears and his cheeks seemed to be sucked into his face to give a shadow across where they should have been. She didn't like looking at elves. A lot of them looked scary.

"Yes, I've no doubt of its gravity. This, however, is a matter that cannot wait." Ancano stated.

"Well, I'm quite sure I've never been interrupted like this before…the audacity!"He looked to the mages lurking in the shadows, waiting. "I suppose we'll continue this at some late time, when we can avoid interruptions." Tolfdir took his leave, but Ancano faced her as she neared him.

He pointed his bony gloved fingers at her and spoke, "I need you to come with me immediately. Let's go."

Nera frowned at him, her own hand on her chest and she spoke herself. "I don't understand what's going on." Ancano put his hands on his hips and tilted his body slightly to the right as his stance shifted.

"Really? Well, allow me to clarify the situation. I'd like to know why there's someone claiming to be from the Psijic Order here in the College." Oh….snap. "More importantly, I'd like to know why he's asking for you specifically." Double snap. "So we're going to go have a little chat with him, and find out exactly what is it he wants."

"Why does this matter so much to you?" Nera asked. "This is none of your concern."

"I'll be the one asking questions." He tried to use his height and power to intimidate her, but Garret always told her to never be afraid of an elf. Especially a Thalmor from the Aldmeri Dominion. In the end, they knew nothing about fighting and sword play but a few tricks. Their fighting lay in magic and the true shot of an arrow. They were meant to hide behind their shields and only acted like douche bags to everyone because they could never win a real fight with a true nord.

"All you need to know is that the Psijic Order is a rogue organization, believing themselves to above the law. They have clashed with the Aldmeri Dominion before, and I have no intention of allowing that to happen here." Oh, so this was because he was a little baby about losing a fight to the awesome people who can literally transport their bodies places around Tamriel and be seen to no one other than one. That seemed like there was some jealousy.

He walked away from her and she followed, almost ramming into Nirya who decided to move in Nera's path. Well someone needed to watch where they were going or they were going to find themselves walking into a frost rune and being torn apart by ice shards. They walked to door to the Arch-Mages quarters, but he stopped before pulling the doors open. He took a step back and turned around to look at her. "Now, you are going to speak to this…Monk…and find out why he is here, and then he will be removed from the College grounds."

He turned back to the doors and opened then and she followed him up the stairs and into the Arch-Mages quarters where the man from the Psijic Order stood with Savos Aren. As soon as she made it over to them the room itself began to blur and then came back into clear vision…but with a seemingly light blue tint around her. Just like when she had entered the tombs and met him before finding the eye.

"I mean you no harm. It is good to meet you in person." He spoke to her. She looked around and Savos and Ancano seemed to be oblivious to why he was talking to her.

"What's going on? What happened to everyone?" Nera asked.

"I'd simply like to talk to you." He answered. "I've given us a chance to speak privately, but I'm afraid I can't do this for long. We must be brief. The situation here at your College is of dire importance, and attempts to contact you as we have previously have failed. I believe it is due to very source of our concern. This object…The Eye of Magnus as your people have taken to calling it. The energy coming from it has prevented us from reaching you with the visions you have already seen.

"The longer it remains here, the more dangerous the situation becomes. And so I have came here personally to tell you it must be dealt with." Great….Just what she needed. To deal with oh powerful orb. Why did she have to? They were the strongest mages out there and here they are telling her she had to deal with it.

"If this is dangerous, then why don't you do something about it?" Nera voiced the question in her mind.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." It's never that simple! "You must understand, the Psijic Order does not typically…intervene directly in events. My presence here will be seen as an affront to some within the Order, and as soon as we have finished, I will be leaving your College." Just dump it on her. Of course. Why not? There was a sudden thought that she now knew what Drayce felt like when she was forced to be her mule, but this was much worse in her opinion.

The man looked at Savos and then Ancano, then back at her. "I'm all too aware that my arrival has aroused suspicion, especially in Ancano, your Thalmor associate. Nevertheless, my Order will not act directly. You must take it upon yourself to so."

"So what exactly is wrong here?" there was floating eye that was chillin here in the Hall of Elements, but nothing has happened besides a cranky Thalmor lurking about bossing everyone around.

"As you may have learned, this object...The Eye…is immensely powerful." He answered.

"But it's safe here in the College. Is it not?"

"This world is not ready for it. If it remains here, it will be misused. Indeed, many in the Order believe it has already… Rather, something will happen soon, something that cannot be avoided." Take it with you then dammit.

She felt like curling up in Garret's lap and crying right now. Where was her big brother to smash the pretty eye and get rid of her problems when she needed him to? "What do you want me to do then?"

"We believe that your efforts should be directed towards dealing with the aftermath, but we cannot predict what that will be." The man glanced around the room again as if looking for someone to come after him. "I fear I have already overstepped the bounds of my Order, but I will offer this; seek out the Augur of Dunlain here in your College. His perception may be more coherent than ours."

Now he was leaving. What the hell? "Why should I trust you or your Order?" It came out before she could stop it and she felt like slapping her hand over her mouth and curling into a corner somewhere. Way to snap at the all powerful.

"I presume you refer to Ancano's distaste for the Psijic Order? The Thalmor see our Order as a threat because we have power, and we will not allow them to control us." So it was jealousy. "I assure you that we mean you no harm."

"So who is the Augur of Dunlain and where do I find him?" That way she at least had somewhere to go on this.

"He was once a student here at the College. Now he is… something different and I… I am unsure. He is somewhere within the College. Surely one of your colleagues must know his location. I'm sorry I cannot provide you with further help, but this conversation requires a great deal of effort on my part. Now, I am afraid I must leave you. We will continue to watch over you, and guide you as best we can. It is within you to succeed. Never forget that."

The blue haze was gone and all of sudden everyone was aware of what was happening. She kind of zoned out with a single thought in her mind. _Was I just assigned to save Tamriel?_


	10. Chapter 10

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

*A LITTLE NOTE HERE FOR THE READERS: I'm not writing this with the intention of explaining every single detail or every quest and every character. This fan-fiction is directed more towards the people who have played and beaten Skryim. If you don't like that I did it this way than don't read it. Simple.

Chapter Ten

**Windhelm** wasn't as grand as Nera had said. It was just a whole bunch of stone and arguing. He had entered the place to see nords fighting with dark elves. Did he care much for what they had to say? Hell, no. He walked around the place at least three times before giving up, buying all the flowers the poor girl Sofie had and then using them to help him sway the woman at the blacksmiths shop.

At first she had ignored him and told him to leave, but she was able to weasel her way through her business like façade and get her to smile at a few of his pick-up lines and jokes. The old man though, had chased him away at sword point so he left, walking around Windhelm a few more times before conversing with a man named Angrenor Once-Honored. The man had been a Stormcloak solider once in his life, but had to retire due to taking a sword to the chest.

And he thought the arrow to his knee was bad.

After his polite conversation with the poor man he spared the man a few coins and walked into Candlehearth Hall for a drink and bed. He would wait for a new day and try his luck wooing little miss Hermir again. Maybe this time he would be able to get her after she gets off of work or sneak a little tender love and care beforehand. He was a very resourceful man. He opened the door of the inn on the left and entered. There was a small bar with some stools and a lady behind it, then a man wearing a dark robe.

The man had medium length brown hair that was pushed behind his ears with an average looking face. He wasn't someone anybody would look twice at..well maybe a thief or bandit on a scouting mission. He decided to have this man as his company for the night since the man didn't have any friends himself.

_Well aren't I the saint today?_ Sybel asked himself as he walked over to the man and introduced himself.

"You look like someone who can hold their liquor." The man looked up at him. "How about a friendly contest to win a staff?"

Sybel let out a laugh, his head thrown back. The only person who was ever able to out drink him was Dane. Garret was always so close, but always too far from it. "A drinking contest? You don't stand a chance." Sybel didn't use staffs, but Nera would love another for her collection. It would put him on Nera's good side. Until she found out what type of contest he won it at.

"We'll see about that." The man slowly stood, a smile creeping at the edge of his lips. "this is a special brew, very strong stuff." The man offered his hand and Sybel took it. "Sam Guevenne."

"Sybel."

"Now let's get this started," The man's-Sam's smile grew wider as he poured their drinks. Sybel gladly took the first and chugged it down as Sam did the same. It tasted fucking fantastic. Better than any mead or Skooma he had ever tasted, which was surprising since he had was a big fan of Black-Briar Reserve. (He loved smugglers and thieves.) The second one was offered and he downed just as fast the first one. Sam's laughter was loud and clear, the man holding his gut with his other hand.

"Pour, bitch." Sybel said after finishing.

"If you can finish this last one you win. I normally don't meet anyone who can drink like you can." Sam shook his head as he poured another. Now that Sybel thought, he couldn't even remember where the damned jug came from that Sam's drink had been in. He didn't see the man holding it before, or by his feet. "You're a fun person to drink with." He didn't realize he was doing anything that could be considered fun to watch. All he was doing was chugging down liquor.

"Drinking is what I do, Sammy." He blinked and all of a suddenly things around him got blurry. The drink couldn't be that strong. There had never been a drink in all of Tamriel to knock his ass out unless it was drugged. He shook his head and blinked a few times to clear his visions before chugging back his third one. If he passed out he would still be in Windhelm and perfectly safe. Not an Imperial around here in Windhelm. Sam spoke some more but he didn't really understand any of it.

**Da'Virr** had hoped to see one of her siblings on her way to Solitude, but it didn't happen. She shouldn't have been surprised since she traveled at night and slept through the day, balanced on a high tree. Her siblings slept at night, off the road and hidden in the forest. She just has weird thoughts and hopes.

The Winking Skeever was a live and bustling with activities as she entered. Da'Virr had to fight the urge to buy a barrel of mead and walked a slow circle around the open floor, searing for her little Argonian. He was sitting to the left of where she had actually entered in an alcove. Next to a table. She approached him, slowly pulling down her mask and pulling back her hood to show her cat features. Argonians didn't like Nords, Breton's, Redgaurd or Imperials. If you didn't have fur or scales they normally didn't like you because of the prejudice remarks and treatments.

Even though his description showed that he seemed prejudice against those who didn't have the money, it was still better to be safe than sorry. If she showed her natural self he might be more inclined to tell her the actual truth.

Gulum-Ei looked up at her as she approached, searching her body quickly before looking back at her. She couldn't tell if anything lurked in the reptile's eyes, but she sure as hell hoped nothing along the lines of lust lurked there, because while she wasn't a human, she still didn't like Argonians. They were ugly looking unlike the actual animals. "So, what do we have here? Hmm. Let me guess." Da'Virr widened her stance and crossed her arm, waiting for him to speak again.

"By your scent, I'd say you were from the Guild. But that can't be true, because I told Mercer I wouldn't deal with them anymore." Well good for him.

"This is about Goldenglow Estate." She spoke.

The Argonian let out a sigh, his head dropping as he shook it. He was looking down at the floor now instead of her. Sure tell-tale for lying. "I don't deal in land or property." He looked back up at her and she couldn't tell if he was smiling or not. "Now, if you're looking for goods, you've come to the right person."

"There's no need to lie, Gajul-Lei." Golum-Ei sat up straight in his seat, his body tensing for a second before he seemed to force himself to relax. Caught in a lie.

"Oh…did you say Goldenglow Estate?" He placed the foor he had in his hand down on the table. "I'm sorry to say that I don't know a lot about that um…that um…bee farm, was it?"

Da'Virr rolled her eyes. "You acted as a broker for its new owner." Why was it so hard for people to tell the truth? She heard a voice in her head scream 'hypocrite' but she pushed the voice off and ignored it.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. I can't be expected to remember every deal I handle." She growled in frustration. Da'Virr pulled her blade from its sheath and brought her body forward, pressing the Argonian to the back of the chair as she pressed her blade into his throat. She could already smell of the nasty creature's blood. "Well, if you would help me acquire a case of Fierebrand Wine, I would tell you more about Goldenglow Estate." She eased up on the blade, keeping eye contact with him. "There is a single case in the Blue Palace. While you grab that, I can remember any more important details."

Well if he didn't she could always kill rob him of the Firebrand Wine. She removed her blade and slid it back into its sheath before stepping back from him. A quick glance around the room and she saw that no one was looking her way. Da'virr brought her hood up and put her mask on as she walked out of the Winking Skeever. The Blue Palace was at the back of Solitude and it was night time so she could just run in, grad it and go.

Solitude was quiet as usual, surrounded by walls of stones as all main cities were. She loved being in a main city because it meant more to steal, but Drayce and Garret always hated it. Dancer liked anything with a blacksmith's forge and Sybel could care less. Nera was the only other one to share a fascination with big cities and that was only because they usually had the best stores for potions and books for her magics and spells.

Da'Virr got to the blue palace easy enough, scoring a few money pouches along the way. The Blue Palace had its usual security. Guards just about everywhere, but that was never a problem with her. She was really good at blending into the shadows. She grinned to herself as she snuck into the side hall where she spotted the Firebrand Wine cast on a side table.

**They** wouldn't let her into the building. They refused to let her across the damned bridge. She had requested to see her sister and they demanded that she cast a spell. She wanted to see her sister, not cast a damned spell. Drayce couldn't remember the name of it. She was pretty sure she wanted her to conjure something, but she wasn't sure what it was. If she wasn't a mage then she couldn't be allowed in because of something that was going on. She ended up being directed over to the Inn by Rune, who actually dragged her backwards away from the ugly dark elf with that fucking smug look on her face like she was better than her.

A dark elf? Better than a Nord? Who the fuck did she think she was?

Rune had forced her to sit at a table in The Frozen Hearth and set down two meads, one for himself and one for her. She took the mead with no argument and chugged it. "Well, you can always try in a day or so." Rune offered with a smile as he pushed a plate of grilled salmon in front of her. "In the meantime we can fill ourselves with mead and fish."

"I have never been denied entry to any place. I have denied places myself, but I have never been denied." She said with a growl. "I hate elves. All of them. Bitch thinks she's better than me because she knows more magic." Well she didn't need magic to cleave the bitches head from her body.

"Well, the college is meant for mages." Drayce glared at him. "Why are you so upset over being delayed? I mean if anything it's me losing out on some extra help since I'm only here to get my job done and then heading back to Riften."

"I need to talk to her and I want to get it over with so I can go on my merry way." She grabbed a knife and fork and started to cut the salmon into smaller pieces. "If we can't get in there by the time you need to leave I will still ask her about your past. Hell even if I find anything on the road I'll tell you about it." She said before taking a piece of salmon into her mouth.

"That is very kind of you."

"What can I say? I'm the nicest person you may ever meet in your entire life." Drayce spoke with a smile this time, looking over at Rune who seemed to grinning himself.

"So, you told me your armor is ebony, but how can ebony be crafted into something like the armor you are wearing?" Man was wise in changing subject. Man was wise.

**Couldn't** she ever get a break? Her horse must hate her. she hadn't even been back a day and she was already running back out the door. The elf at the entrance of the bridge tried to talk to her about something, but she ignored her and went off on her merry way. She had to get this done. Now here she was at the entrance of Mzulft, feeding her horse some apples she kept stored on the horses back. If he truly desired he could wander off and find a stream. She knew she passed quite a few, but right now she needed to get into this Dwarven ruin.

Her conversation with the Augur of Dunlain popped into her head as she placed her hands on the great doors to such a wonderful city.

_She faced what had to be the spirit form of Augur of Dunlain. He was a bright blue ball of light above what seemed to be a very large fire pit. Nera stared at the light for a few seconds before collecting herself and speaking, "So you're the Augur of Dunlain?"_

_As before his voice was low and raspy, as if he was tired and waiting to sleep. "I am that which you have been seeking. Your efforts are in vain. It has already begun. But those who have sent you have not told you what they seek. What you seek."_

"_I was told to find you."_

"_Indeed. And so you have come looking, though you do not know why. Like others before you, you blindly follow a path to your own destruction. The Thalmor come seeking answers as well, unaware they will be his undoing. Your path now follows his, though you will arrive too late. The Thalmor that calls himself Ancano. He seeks information about the Eye, but what he will find shall be quite different. His path will cross yours in time, but first you must find which you need."_

"_What is it that I need?" This felt too much like a dream. _

"_You, and those aiding you, wish to know more about the Eye of Magnus. You wish to avoid the disaster of which you are not yet aware of. To see through Magnus' Eye without being blinded, you require his staff. Events now spiral quickly towards the inevitable center, so you must act with haste. Take this knowledge to your Arch-Mage._

She pushed open the great door and slid into the ruins. The sounds of gears covered the sounds of the dying man coughing as he leaned his back against the wall and let his legs lie on the floor in front of him. She closed the door to the ruins to hopefully discourage any bandits or other brave travelers, someone like her brother Sybel, and walked over to him.

"Crystal… gone…" He started coughing violently again as she crouched in front of him. He must be one of the Synod. As soon as he calmed enough he began to talk again, "Find… Paratus… in Oculary…" the man died seconds later, his body completely sagging and his head lolling to the side.

Nera left his side to check to the door, but it was locked. It didn't seem like the type of lock she could pick on her own so she went back to the Synod and searched his pockets, finding the key and research log. She took both before approaching the door. After she unlocked the door she walked through and slowly made her way through some traps.

**His** head hurt. He felt as if someone had actually taken a war hammer to his head and left him to die in the battlefield. Sybel groaned as she opened his eyes. He wasn't in the Candlehearth Hall anymore. The Inn in Windhelm had wood walls, wood floors. He rested on cold stone and saw nothing but cold stone. He did know that he was lying on his stomach.

Sybel forced himself to push his palms against the floors and force himself up from the floor, a groan escaping his lips. When he got himself into a sitting position he saw a woman-no a priestess. He was in a temple. She glared holes through him as she stood with her hands firmly placed on her hips. "That's right, it's time to wake up you drunken blasphemer." Sybel took in his surroundings and he was in deed in a temple. Not one he knew of, but there was no doubt in his mind with the statues and the fire pit in the middle of the room.

"Where am I?" He asked as he slowly raised himself to his feet.

The woman shifted her stance and seemed to resist the urge to throttle him. Thank the gods for that. At the moment he was sure she could do it and succeed. "Of course you don't know where you are. I'm guessing you don't remember coming in here and blabbering incoherently about marriage and a goat." Marriage…goat? Was he married to a goat? What the fuck did he do?


	11. Chapter 11

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

*Note to reader: I'm not sure why the transits aren't showing, but I do have them. They are the stars. D: I'm still too new to this site. Any help?

*Sorry about such a long delay. I have been busy with school works. Nonstop research papers and projects until the very last day of school. Now I'm out and I will do my best to update the chapters.

Chapter Eleven

**Da'Virr** carried the Firebrand Wine into the Winking Skeever with a smile on her face. Gulum-Ei was still at the seat, now a mug in his hand filled to the brim with Mead. He looked at her with that mischievous glint in her eye and a twisted smile on his reptilian face. "I have your wine." Da' Virr spoke as she placed it on the table, shoving the plates to the very edge of the table.

"Now we can talk. As far as Goldenglow Estate goes, I'll tell you what I know." He stood and faced the win, setting his mug on one of the soon to be broken plates. He slid his scaley fingers in and out of the box, feeling the bottles of the wine. He titled his head slightly so he could watch her. "I was approached by a woman who wanted me to act as the broker for something big." He pulled a bottle out of the crate and examined the label thoroughly. "She flashed a bag of gold and told me all I had to do was pay Aringoth for the estate, so I did as she said."

"Did she tell you why?" He popped the cork on the bottle and seemed to be inhaling the aroma. There would be no way she would be buying any rare wines in Skryim now. An Argonian might be licking the rim of the bottle or doing something else disgusting.

"Not at all. I tend not to ask to many questions when I'm on the job. I'm sure you would understand. Though I am certain she was angry and it was being directed towards Mercer Frey."

"You don't have her name or anything?" Da'Virr shifted on her feet and gave him an aggravated look.

"In this business we rarely deal in names; our identity comes from how much coin we carry. That's all I know," He spoke as he replaced the cork and returned the bottle to its crate. He picked up the crate and went to walk away but she stepped in his way. "Listen, I never told you I had all the answers, now if we are finished I have somewhere I need to be." Da'Virr remained in her place for a few seconds before stepping out of his way and watching him run out. There was bard in the back singing "Age of Aggression," then the man behind the bar.

Da'Virr waited for him to leave and counted till ten before following him.

**Rorikstead** was dull and boring and it was already getting dark out. He hated dull and boring places, especially at night, because they never got any darker. He had already asked several people about Sam and himself, but no one fucking knew anything. He still felt like shit from the night before and he found he was missing several other random items that were normally in his bag. Sybel scratched his head and fought a yawn coming onto him. He didn't have any money to buy a horse or get a carriage so he had to walk to Rorikstead and he was tired and wanted to go back to sleep. Hell he didn't even have an potions on hand so he could cheat his way out of the monster hang over.

He caught movement in the corner of his eye and followed it to see a farmer working on his potato plants. Sybel turned and jogged over to him, easily hopping over the fence that separated his yard from the road. The man heard him before he saw him and seemed to have been on his way to give him a friendly greeting until he looked up. The man pinned him with an evil glare, shoving his arm outward with an accusing finger. "You!" Sybel stopped in his place after landing on the ground. "You've got a lot of nerve showing yourself in this town again." The man came forward, his finger still pointed at him as he closed the distance. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Sybel leaned back against the fence as the farmer gripped the hoe in his other hand. "I'm…I'm sorry?" Sybel spoke confused.

"Sorry's not good enough! Not while my Gleda is still out there, alone and afraid. You kidnapped her and sold her to that Giant." Well when the fuck did that happen? _At least you're not married to the goat._ Well then who was he married to?

"That sounds horrible. I-"

"You're damned right it does. I'll never breed another prize-winning goat like Gleda! Don't you even think about coming back here without Gleda. I will make sure you'll regret it." He highly doubted that.

"Do you know anything about the man I was with, Sam?" He asked.

"You won't know anything until I have my Gleda back, now go!" He shouted at Sybel. This man was a good five or six inches shorter than him and was yelling at him, who, Sybel looked down at himself, was still wearing his armor and still had his weapons strapped to his body. Sybel felt like shaking his head, but he felt it would provoke the already angry man so he hopped back over the fence and went searching for a giant with a goat.

**Nera** had killed a good ten or twelve mechanical spiders down here and it was getting a bit annoying, really. She just needed to get down to this staff. She had bypassed a door and entered what seemed to be a cave made into the ruin and had to deal with killing a Chaurus Reaper or two before entering back into the ruin itself to kill more spiders and then spheres.

She didn't even have a companion to help her with the stuff she had to pick. She had jewels in her pockets (mostly diamonds), but she could take all the books she found along the way because she couldn't carry them all. She was now at the Mzulft Boilery, going through yet another cavernous part of the ruins. It was annoying how she had to keep her Staff of Sparks and healing spelling out at all times as she ventured, killing more and more creatures.

Nera examined some of the dead Falmer at her feet. She was a few feet away from what seemed like it went back into the ruins, but she wanted to have a look at these creatures. They were truly ugly, deformed beyond repair and she couldn't fathom how snow elves, such beautiful beings became this way. Garret use to find her books about them with illustrations and she would spend countless hours and days just reading through their myths and legends and life styles. She would speculate with Garret what happened to them, making up their own stories on how they were forced into it or how one was cursed by a hag raven so evil, the pure of heart could not be near her for they would become tainted with the very evil she breathed.

Their skin had grayed and dulled to an ugly kind of brown, their arms and legs abnormally long and disproportionate. They were blind, depending on all other senses to detect trespassers and they obviously cared for none who were of any other species. Nera saw that none possessed hard and it was almost impossible to tell what was a female and what was a male. You really had to pay attention and fully undress them to really see what gender they truly were.

When she found nothing else that interested her she left and made her way to the door entering Mzulft Aedrome. She took a deep breath, gathered her strength and then entered the room in a crouch, slowly opening the door only big enough to slip her small body through. There was a slope upwards with two more Falmer and she readied her staff, aiming at the closest one before firing. The other came after her while the one she was attacking countered with a sparks spell. Her own staff killed the Falmer before he could drain enough of her magic to really do anything and then she attacked the other Falmer who had come after her with his/her sword.

The hall led into a big room with more Falmer, but they were weaker and died easily. After she had killed them all she searched through their huts and their chests, looking at anything and everything before exiting the room through another pair of doors. This one led into a hall with already dead Falmer. Nera didn't really speculate on why they were dead since she didn't know enough about them to really judge until she opened the next set of doors where a Centurion waited.

She almost lost her shit, slamming the doors closed and backing up. Nera set her staff aside and equipped firebolt with both her hands, readying herself as the Centurion charged through the door at her. She sent a few bolts at him, before she rolled off to the side, dodging his fist. Nera scrambled to her feet to the side of him and ran back into the other room as she charged a bolt in both her hands. She turned to see the Centurion coming after her. She sent another few bolts before dodging again and ran behind the Centurion once again. She repeated the motion, just about exhausted when the damned thing dropped dead.

Nera slowly walked over to the Centurion and took the Greater Soul gem and several other jewels inside it shell before walking over to her staff, taking it and going on her merry way. Well she knew what killed the Falmer now…

After looking through the room she found there was no other reason to be there and turned her ass around, walking backing into the main room. It was energy she wasted on something she didn't even need to do and pissed her off. Nera went back into the main room and stared at the doors at the top of the stairs where all the huts were. She hadn't gone in there because she figured there would just be more huts and more Falmer lurking around and it was the dead end room, but it was obvious she was wrong. Nera reached into her pack and grabbed her flagon of water, taking some to nourish her sore body before taking a bite out of an apple dumpling she found wrapped up in her bag, probably from Sybel so people would eat his food.

After a few minutes of rest she walked up the stairs and through the doors. What did she find? A hallway not even one hundred feet that led to another door. What was the point in that?

She walked over to the door, trying to open it when she got to it and found it locked. She pushed the doors again but they refused to budge. This wasn't a lock she could pick. Then again she wasn't very good at picking locks to begin with. That was Da'Virr's or Sybel's department.

"G…Gavros? Is that you?" She froze in place. There was someone in there already? "I'd almost given up hope. Let me get the door." She took a step back and readied her staff. This obviously wasn't a Falmer and if he was here he was mage like the other at the door. The door opened to show her a man dressed in the same robes as the other. As soon as he saw her he readied his own magic. "What are you doing here? What've you done with Gavros?"

"You're friend is dead." She spoke, backing up a little from the mage.

"It was the Falmer, wasn't it? Curse them! They've ruined everything! If Gavros is gone, there's no hope. He was supposed to return with the crystal…Without that, all our efforts are wasted." He dropped his hands, the magic disappearing as he stood up straight. "If you are here for treasure, wisdom or anything you are wasting your time."

Nera lowered her staff and came closer to him. "What is this crystal you speak of?"

**The** Giant was grazing the fields with goat not too far from Rorikstead. He didn't like giants, they didn't like him. You normally only saw them around Skyrim, but there would be on here and there throughout the rest of Tamriel. He had ran right into one of their camps while running from a hoard of angry elves once upon a time(He will keep his mouth shut on why they chased him) and a giant attacked him, hit him right out of the camp with a club and into a tree where he hung there. The elves had run screaming from the giant camps. Did he mention there were two giants; one was sitting by the fire? Sybel had been left to hang until Da'Virr and Drayce came stumbling by(They had a job that involved stealing something very precious from the elves he had just pissed off) and decided to help him. He was suffering from internal bleeding and was slowly bleeding out from the inside and Drayce had given him some of her healing potion before throwing him over her shoulder and carting him to a temple to be healed.

Now he stood in front of one who was minding his own business with the goat he just bought. Fucking farmer. He should have went straight home to grab some diamonds or some shit and just give them to him. Like, "Here, sorry I took your goat, but you are clearly not getting it back without me dying first so just the damned diamonds." Too bad, the cave was to far away and he really needed to find Sam and found out who he married before it became known to public.

Sybel casually walked up to Gleda. She was eating some grass when he crouched in front of her. "You need to come back with me." The goat looked at him. "He might be nice right now, but he is planning on eating you after he breeds you and eats your babies in front of you." The goat made a noise and backed away from him. He didn't speak goat, but he was assuming that this goat understood him. Maybe he was a goat whisperer. "If you want to remain alive, come back with me and I will reunite you with your owner." He stood and began to slowly back away. The goat followed him.

He was fine until the giant looked at him and saw him walking away with his goat. Then the thing got really pissed. Sybel took off in a dead run down the hill and onto the road. The goat was close by his side as he ran away from Rorikstead. He would go back to the farmer after he lost the giant causing little earthquakes behind him. By the time the giant stopped chasing him he was utterly exhausted. He had never run so fast and so long in his entire life. The goat stopped at his side, lying next to his collapsed body on the road. Gleda rested her head on his chest.

"You're welcome, Gleda." He spoke as he ran his hand through her fur.

He waited there for twenty minutes or so like that before getting back up and heading back to the farmer. Gleda wasn't much company to him since she couldn't talk, but she looked better and better to eat as the time ticked on. He had to be slow and quite, always watching around him in case the giant were to appear anywhere and attack him. By the time he got back to the farm it was completely dark out, but the farmer was still in his yards. Crazy mother fucker.

The goat ran into the farm at the first available access and up to her owner before Sybel could reach the fence and to be honest, he didn't feel like walking any further. The first bed in the inn was his and his only. He would sell his soul for a pint of mead and a feast right now, then some potion to deal with his sore body from all the running. He never even realized just how far he had ran off until he started walking back. The farmer greeted his goat with nothing but excitement. He actually crouched down and hugged the damned thing and spoiling Gleda with praises.

"I got you your goat, now can you tell me what you know?" Sybel asked as he leaned against the fence. The man looked up at him.

"I don't know why you bothered stealing her. You left a note about it, but it was complete gibberish. Half the note was scribble and the other half had mead spilled over it. All I could make out was paying Ysolda in Whiterun. Guess you could try there," The man spoke as he stroked the fur of Gleda. Sybel rested his head against the fence before letting out a frustrated growl. From Markath to Rorikstead now back to Whiterun. What the fuck did Sam put in his drink?

"Thank you," He spoke after a minute. He pushed himself off the fence post and walked over to the inn, before realizing that he didn't even have money. He was pretty sure this inn was run by men as well too. "Fuck you, fuck you, and fuck you." He whispered under his breath as he went back on the road heading to Whiterun. Hopefully he would find some female traveler and sell himself so he could get some money for the next inn he happened upon, but right now he would be sleeping in a tree in the forest, something that Da'Virr taught him to do if he didn't have a bed roll and no money for an inn.

**Golum-Ei** had gone into the East Empire Company Warehouse. She had to fight the urge to take the cheese just for the hell of it but she went into the water, swam as silently as she could across to the other side of the docks set up and into the hidden door behind him. She had gone into the cave behind him, but he had disappeared completely, leaving her to kill all the people in her to him. She had sliced the first ones throat while behind him and stabbed the other in the chest as he ran up at her with his axe. The others were killed by the daggers she had thrown at them. Da'Virr followed the bridges and stole any gold and gems she could as she went on her way. The bandits had plenty so she was well filled by the time she got to their little camping area when he was talking to bandit.

She ran up at him, stepping on a tipped over barrel as she launched herself at the bandit. She caught him in the throat with her sword and took him down to the ground. Gulum-Ei jumped back in shock. Da'Virr stood over the bandit's body, twisting in her stance to peer over at him. He brought his hands up in defense.

"Now there's no need to do anything rash…This-this isn't as bad as it seems. I was going to tell Mercer about everything, honestly! Please, he'll have me killed!" His voice cracked at the end. Well it was good to know now he was scared. _Killing every bandit they had posted in this cave does that to a man._

"Tell me now or I'll be the one killing you, slicing you with blade from chin to groin." Da'Virr let out a purr on the last part. She never minded killing people. Nera, Garret and Dancer were always iffy about it, but that the rest of them got off on it.

"I'll tell you everything. It's Karliah…her name is Karliah." He said.

She stepped closer to him, switching her sword to her other hand. All her daggers were sheathed after she killed the last bandits at the boats. "You say this name like I should know it." Gulum-Ei took a step the closer she got until he was backed into the crate next to the letters.

"Mer-Mercer never told you about her?" Da'Virr pressed the sword against his throat. "She is the thief responsible for murdering the previous Guild Master, Gallus. Now, she's after Mercer."

"So you are helping her."

"Help? No, no! Look, I didn't even know it was her until after she contracted me. Please, you have to believe me." Doubt that she had too. She didn't really trust much people to begin with and if you happened to be an Argonian, she trusted you even less.

"Where is she now?"

Gulum-Ei put his hands against the blade of her sword as if it kept her from slicing his throat if she felt like it. Her blade was a lot sharper than this man anticipated because not even his hands will stop it from cutting through if she put all her might into it. "I don't know. When I asked her where she was going she just muttered 'Where the end began.' If you reach into my jacket you will find the deed to the Goldenglow Estate. Take it. When you speak to Mercer, tell him I'm worth more to him alive." She let off on him and walked around, picking at the chests there and talking what she wanted. Gulum-Ei remained in place as she plundered and then handing her the deed before she fiddled with the switches for the hidden tunnel.

Now she would be making her way back to Riften. She could go back to looking at the oh so attractive, Brynjolf. She had no problem with that for he was one man she wanted to sink her claws into.

**Nera** wanted nothing more to do with this damned ruin. She had to find the man the focusing crystal so she could get this complex machine lined up with the light the focusing crystal gave. It was annoying. She had to go back and forth from the bottoms at the top to the bottom where she would hit the lights with fire until they finally lined up and she got some sort of map. Peratus got pissed at her because he blamed her for whatever she was doing not working.

She should have let him do it all, tell him to go f off. She really wished she could swear or Drayce was here, because she would have killed him for attacking her as he had done. He rambled on and on and all she really took from that was the fact that the staff was in Labyrinthian. Now she needed to go see Savos Aren. Nera would have remained and spoke to him, but he was rude and she couldn't stand him and his all "I'm tattling on you to my council because I'm fancier than you, blah, blah, blah." Well that was she heard from him.

Sometimes she just wished she was a barbarian like Drayce and just dropped the bomb on him and tore him to pieces. Nera mumbled unpolite things about him as she walked back down the stairs to the doors she had seen earlier. It seemed like a short cut out of the ruins and she was taking it and leaving as fast as she could…Well first she needed to find her horse who was at the entrance to this damned place.

Just as she was about to touch the door the man from before appeared out of thin air. It was the man from the Psijic Order. "You have done well thus far, but trying times are ahead. It is imperative that you return to your college at once." No frickin break here. _Come on, world, let me have an hour to myself._ "You will be called on to take swift action. Rise to the challenge, and discover what you are capable of. You are on the right path, and you will prevail." Then the man up and disappeared again, the door in front of her opening. It led through a hallway that went to yet again another door.

"I am demanding some compensation for all this work." She shouted at the empty hallway. She was greeted with nothing by the echoes of her voice.


	12. Chapter 12

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter 12

**Drayce** was pressed against someone warm, someone warm and not hard nor not too soft. She opened one eye and saw tanned skin. It took her a couple of seconds to understand why she was seeing tanned skin that was hairier than Garrets, but when she did she opened both her eyes and stared up at Rune. She slept with the man last night. He wasn't a bad lay either. Drayce forced herself onto her elbow, her back pressed against the wall of the room. She was on the inside of the bed, laying on her side while Rune was on his back, his arm hanging off the bed and his leg bent at the knee with his foot on the floor. They were on a twin sized bed, since that was what the inn keeper gave them to sleep on.

Was Nera back? She should probably go check. She should probably wake up Rune as well. He was suppose to leave after he finished his job last night, but he came back and snuck into her room like the little thief he was and seduced her drunk arse.

Her armor was neatly folded on the dresser with her weapons against the wall. She only wore a simple black tunic to sleep, her pants normally folded up with her armor as well, but now her tunic was somewhere on the floor with Rune's own armor…or perhaps under Rune himself. Drayce used her other hand and felt her braid. It was nice and tight, no strays. She agreed with this.

"Why didn't you let me touch your hair last night?" Drayce stared down at Rune. His eyes were barely open.

"It takes too much time to redo the braid and my hair is very thick and unruly. It's better just to leave it in a braid until I bathe." She threw a leg over Rune's waist and shifted her body onto his chest. The only thing that moved was his hands and that was only because he placed them on her waist. "So, you were suppose to leave last night, but came back here anyway to fuck me…Did you change your mind on leaving?"

"No, I still have to leave. I just wanted a taste first."

"Just a taste?" Drayce said suggestively as she slid her hips back and rubbed against him. Rune's hands tightened on her hips as he bit his bottom lip. "Am I not satisfying? You don't want any more?" She asked. He closed his eyes for a second before opening them again and pinning her with his stare. She stopped moving on him and leaned over his chest. "I'm sure work can wait a little-"

Rune jerked into a sitting position faster than she expected, his hands splayed on her back as he pressed his mouth against hers. "I think I might have another."

**Nera** had just barely gotten back to the college. The horse waited outside the stairs while she had ran up them. The college seemed a little quiet and off, but she ignored it and walked in to find Savos Aren and Mirabelle talking. "It's like a wall, but it isn't a wall. I don't know how he is doing it," She spoke to Savos. Nera got between them both and turned to face the elf.

She could have asked what was going on, but she needed to inform of the staff as well. "I know where the staff is." He looked at her, his body slightly turned away from the wall.

"Excellent. I would say to get it now, but at the moment we have more pressing issues." Savos spoke. She looked towards the wall of energy or magic or whatever it actually was. "Ancano has somehow locked himself in the room with the Eye. He's up to something and I intend to put a stop to it. Help us would you? We need to throw in everything we have." Savos readied his sparks while Mirabelle stepped back and her palms turned the frosty light blue of frost.

They were already using those so use something else. Not ice, but fire. Her palsm became warm as fire started to coast over the skin of her palms. She readied herself as soon as they had and let loose everything she had as soon as they made their move. The wall didn't budge for a good fifteen seconds and then slowly began to dissipate, the loud noise becoming nothing as the hall that carried the eye became visible once more.

Savos Aren and Mirabelle wasted no time, running into the hall to confront Ancano. The Thalmor was on the opposite side of the eye, his body posed as if he was stuck in a tackle. One leg behind him and the other in front, this one bent. His hands were focused above his head at his front as sparks flew from his hand. Nera had reached Savos's side when the elf demanded the Thalmor to stop. When he didn't Savos approached him with his magic.

It was the last thing she remembered before hearing Mirabelle calling her name. Nera blinked, her mind still a bit fuzzy as she tried to figure out what happened. She attempted to sit up, but her body would have none of that and she fell back to the floor. _Come on, breathe in, breathe out. Breathe the eff in, breathe the eff out. _Her mind cheered her on as Mirabelle continued to talk. Could she hold on for a second? She tried again, but her head screamed out in pain and her body objected to it. _Come on mind, you were just cheering me on a second ago_, Nera growled to herself.

After a few more tries she was able to force herself into a sitting position and stare at Mirabelle. She was leaning against the wall of the entry into the Hall. The wall of energy was back up, but just around the Eye now. She could just faintly see Ancano through it, but he was still there, but where was Savos. She looked left to right and the elf was just nowhere to be seen.

"Are you alright?" Mirabelle seemed to just keep repeating herself. Nera looked at the lady and slowly bent her knees. "Can you walk?" She asked.

"I think." Nera responded.

"I need you on your feet. We're in trouble here. Ancano was doing something in there…to the eye." Mirabelle was a bit banged up herself. She had some scratches and bruises starting to come in, one around her eye. She must have hit her face on something. "You need to find Savos. I haven't seen him since the explosion…I need…I need you to find him. He must have been blown clear and he may be injured."

Nera had to fight her body to stand up. It was if she had Thane and Garret knocked out on top of her. She almost fell right back down when she finally had herself standing. Her staff was nowhere to be seen and her bag was leaking all sorts of stuff, her back now soaked with the potions that had once been in her bag. "What happened to you?"

Mirabelle rested her head against the wall, looking at her. "I'll be find. I just need to catch my breath. You go find Savos." Nera nodded and turned, slowly making her way back into the hall. The wall of energy was moving fast, but remained concentrated a few feet away from the eye, no further. She walked on the outside of the room and looked everywhere and anywhere for Savos, but as she made it around and into the entry room she saw that he wasn't in the hall, but her staff was jammed in the door exiting the college.

She slowly made her way over to the door and used to the door to help balance her as she bent at the knees to pick up her staff. Nera opened the door into the courtyard and tensed her body as a blast of icey cold wind and snow hit her. She forced on through to see a group of people surrounding a motionless body on the ground the right of the statue. Nera stumbled closer, wanting to check if it was really Savos, but Tolfdir intercepted her. "Are you alright? What happened in there?"

"It was Ancano. He did something with the eye and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back with one of the biggest headaches known to Nord kind." Nera replied. Well maybe it wasn't the biggest headache. She has had worse, but she felt that she earned the right to be over dramatic.

"By the Nine…Is he responsible for this?" He turned, his body no longer blocking the lifeless body. It was Savos and he most definitely wasn't breathing. "The Arch-Mage,dead?" He shook his head and Nera probably would have as well, but she was lucky she still standing at the moment. "There's more." Oh, no way in flippin Oblivion there was more. "Something's happened to Winterhold. It must be whatever Ancano did." She almost fell to her knees right there. What was this? She couldn't get a break, just couldn't get a break. "You need to get out there and make sure it's safe, I'll find Mirabelle and see if we can't put stop this!"

Oh hell no. Weren't they going to help her? She was cold and hungry and tired and she just didn't want to deal with this crap. Let the world burn. Nera looked around at the people who were now scrambling around the courtyard. Some of them left through the gate to probably deal with what was going on out there and some took up posts insides. Well she was cold, really cold. Nera looked down at Savos…He didn't need that anymore. He was dead so it wouldn't matter if he was cold?

She grabbed his robes quickly enough, no one minded and she then she took off to the gate, slow and steady, but hey it was better than just sitting down. She ran directly into Faralda after exiting the gate. "What's going on in there?" She asked. Well hell. She was just tasked in saving Winterhold, but obviously people didn't want her to do just that.

"Something went wrong and Winterhold is in danger. Want to help or not?" Might as well ask her dumb elf self since she was being stopped by her. Faralda nodded her head. "Well then let's goooo." Nera exaggerated by moving her arms towards the bridge.

"Aniel, let's go." Faralda spoke to the other mage before taking off in front of Nera. Well then, now they were going to get in her way. Great. Nera followed after Feralda as Aniel complained about not wanting to because Winterhold wouldn't lift a finger to help them. Well, she didn't want to do any of this anymore but the Psijic Order wanted her to save the world. They ran down the bridge, the cold winds relentless in their efforts to knock someone off the damned things. Faralda and Aniel paused before the stairs going into Winterhold which annoyed Nera.

"If you are going to help you should continue going, not wait for my signal. We aren't going into a full fledged war, I'm not your commander." Then again she was wearing the Arch Mages robes and they probably assumed that she was no in charge.

"I can't get a break can't I?" Nera heard Drayce's angry shouting and turned in the direction of it as she ran down the stairs and prepared her staff. Drayce was by the inn, attacking Ice Wraiths. Nera was about to call out to her sister until some more Ice Wraith came raining down upon them. She heard the magic from the other two mages behind her and dove to the side away from any of their fire and brought her staff into the fight and her own fireballs. They all fought through the waves and waves of Ice Wraith, Nera working her way over to Drayce who was hacking and slicing at them.

"When did you get here?" Nera asked. Drayce turned to glance at her, her older sisters eye's filled with anger and hatred.

"When did I get here? I've been here, waiting on you!" Drayce shouted. An Ice Wraith came up from behind her sister, but Drayce handled it, turning and bringing her axe down in a graceful arch, slamming the Ice Wraith to the ground before it shattered and the melted into a puddle. Nera turned on her heels and addressed the other Ice Wraiths, the four of them slowly taking the army out. The attacks from them didn't hurt as much as it would have for any other race, but Nord's had a natural cold resistance so while it was freezing out and the Wraiths were using freeze on them, it didn't hurt too bad. More like annoying pinch.

After they were all called killed, Nera had to walk back up the bridge with Drayce tearing into her with having to wait and Rune leaving her. Rune, Rune? She could have sworn she never heard someone named that. Who would ever call their child Rune? That was just plain cruel. Aniel and Faralda tried to keep Drayce from following, but Drayce literally punched them both out, their bodies now at the bottom of the stairs in front of the bridge. Drayce apparently already had to deal with being told she couldn't go into the College and she wasn't having any more it.

They entered the College's courtyard and passed by some of the still at guard mages and went into the hall. Drayce only paused for a second to look at the field of magic around the Eye of Magnus before muttering about this being the reasons why Nord's shouldn't practice magic. Nera ignored her and walked over to Mirabelle. She was standing now, but she didn't exactly look like she was up to doing more than limping around in the torn state she was. _You'd think with all the mages here they would have healed her completely? _

"I cleared Winterhold. The danger is gone." Nera spoke.

Mirabelle looked around, grimacing as she looked back at the field around the eye. The woman looked troubled and beaten. _Well I feel troubled and beaten._ "Wish I could say the same for us. Tolfdir and I can try and keep this contained, but you need to get your hands on the Staff of Magnus. Now."

"You can't send someone else to do it?" Drayce commented. "You have how many mages here, but you need to send the new recruit to do your dirty work? To fix something you guys fucked up on." Mirabelle glared at Drayce and Nera inwardly cringed. This was obviously going to happen whether she liked it or not.

"Who are you and why are you in here?" Mirabelle questioned.

"None of that right now. She is fine. You really think this Staff will help?" Nera questioned.

"You were told to find it, weren't you? If the stores about the staff are true, if it really can absorb a tremendous amount of power, maybe we can break through Ancano's magic." Well, eff. Just eff.

"I guess I'm off to Labyrintian then." Nera said on a sigh. Bed…oh a bed sounds so good right now.

Mirabelle let out a shocked cry, her body tensing as she looked over Nera. "What…Are you-are you sure? The staff is there? That can't be a coincidence." The woman looked a bit confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"The Arch-Mage. He…gave me something just a little while ago." Mirabelle pulled an amulet from a pocket in her robe and fiddled with it. "He told it was from Labyrinthian, and that I would know what to do with it when the time came. I think… I think he meant this for you then." She held it out to Nera and Nera took it from her hand, staring down at the piece of jewelry. She always liked amulets. "I'm not sure why, but there was something very personal about it for him. It would do you most good now." Mirabelle stared at it as well. Was there a little something going on between the two? "Take it, and get out of here. Bring back that staff before Ancano brings the whole College down around us."

With that Mirabelle turned away from her and started to limp away. Drayce slapped a hand down on Nera's shoulder and yanked her around. "You haven't been letting these people talk to you like shit have you?"

"No. I have been given a task from the Psijic Order and they want to me to stop all the madness before it destroys all of Tamriel and possibly the rest of this planet as well." Nera felt the robe for pockets to put the amulet in before shifting the strap she through over it to put her staff back in. "I now have to go collect a Staff and I'm tired and cold and hungry and feel like I'm going to fall over and die so let's go."

Nera tried to step around Drayce, but her older sister locked her hand around Nera's bicep. "When did I start helping you?"

**Sybel** had practically fallen out of the tree upon awakening. He was planning on getting up early and shit, but he just couldn't find the strength. His legs killed and his face met the ground when he finally let his body drop from the tree branch. He just didn't have the strength anymore, but need to get walking. It would take at least a few hours just to jog down to Whiterun from here so he needed to get something in his stomach and gun it, even if his legs were threatening to kill him for even thinking about it.

He caught a small rabbit quick enough, all thanks to his excellent throwing skills. He cooked it quick enough and hung the skin to his side while ate it. The rest would be left for whatever else wants to eat it, but he only wanted the meat and the liver.

After eating he took off along the road, picking some berries from bushels and eating as he went along and occasionally wetting his face in a river or lake nearby. He thought he would've been able to tough it out and run the whole way, but after the first three miles he crashed and was forced to either walk fast or jog every now and then. He wasn't hungry anymore though…but his hands were now dyed the color of the berries he was shoving in his mouth at handfuls and other travelers looked at him like he was some mental case who escaped prison.

_That was years ago people, and I'm better now! _

Sybel made it to Whiterun by nightfall and entered the city with weary guards tagging his ass. Like he wasn't going to steal anything. Well at least not from the poor of the town. He stole form rich people and rich people only. He walked around the town, looking for Ysolda. He remembered seeing her every now and then. She denied him any chance of even a date, but it was no hard feelings. He didn't press women into anything. It wasn't civil and while he was mentally insane, it wasn't an excuse to force anyone no matter what gender to do anything that bordered sex or relationships.

He found Theo before he found Ysloda. Which reminded him, he needed to head home and stuff his face with food and bathe and sleep on his nice comfy bed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were adventuring?" Theo asked.

"I was, then I got drunk and married someone so I need to fix that." Sybel answered as he stepped around his brother and continued searching or the lady in blue. Theo followed him.

"To someone in Whiterun?" He sounded aghast.

"No…Yes, I don't know. I have no idea who I married. I can't remember." Sybel knew the slap was coming and should've prepared himself for it, but he didn't and that was on him when he almost got knocked over from the force of Theo's slap.

"How do you not know who you married? Are you using again? Drinking? That is the only way you would've have forgotten something like that!" Theo was no lecturing him. Well, it was better than the girls knowing. Well Drayce would leave it alone because of all the dirt he had on her, but the others would use it as blackmail. Theo will lecture him and then leave it alone afterwards. Garret would hand him his ass.

"No and yes. Have you seen Ysolda? I need to talk to her." He turned to look at Theo whose mouth was stretched thin in aggravation.

"She swung by the forge today which was weird but she is in the Bannered Mare right now. Sybel you better fix this. You aren't the marrying type and any girl who ends up with you because you both got shitfaced doesn't deserved to be trapped by your insanity." _Well ouch…thanks brother._ Sybel waved him off and said his goodbyes before trotting over to the Bannered Mare. He had wandered up to the Plains district by then around the dead tree.


	13. Chapter 13

*Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda. This is a fan-fiction, based on the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not everything is perfect and it Is altered to fit my little fantasy world. : ) I hope you like it. Characters: Garret, Drayce, Theodane(Dancer, Dane or Theo), Da'Virr, Sybel and Nerana(Nera) are my own characters and all other characters belong to Bethesda.

Chapter 13

**Ysolda** was sitting on a stool in front of the landlady when he entered the bar. He walked over to her and plopped down in the stool next to her. She looked over at him with a smile. "So you're finally back." She went all serious the next second which was almost comical. "Look, I've been patient, but you still owe me." Why so serious? The landlady gave him a drink, telling him it was on the house thanks to Theo and he gladly took it. While most the family didn't venture in here, Sybel and Theo were frequents with the occasional Garret. Though Garret came in at night for a lay and a quick drink away from the madness and he usually kept his face hidden from everyone else.

"Well how much do I owe you, luv?" He asked.

"It's not about the money, really. I wouldn't have given you the wedding ring on credit if you weren't so obviously in love." Sybel was in the middle of drinking when he almost choked. Ysolda frowned at him. "If there isn't going to be a wedding, the least you can do is give the ring back. That was one of my best pieces."

He wiped his chin with the back of his hand. "Do you know what I did with it?"

"You went right out to give it to your fiancée! Don't you even remember where you left her? And after you told me that sweet story of how you met in Witchmist Grove! I can see why she left you." Ysolda said that last part louder and with a bit of anger tinting her voice. "The ring is 2000 gold by the way, and I would like the gold soon please."

"That doesn't help me. I need to find out where the wedding is." Sybel replied, dusting off her anger.

"I don't know where it is, but I'm sure she might just leave you when she finds out you can't even afford the ring." Sybel scoffed before downing the rest of his drink and then heading back to their little home away from home. Witchmist Grove. That was his next destination. Hopefully the wedding ceremony already happened and he didn't show up so she went back there. That way he could at least talk to her.

**Da'Virr** stood in front of Mercer. He was still standing behind the desk with nothing but empty shelves and an empty head mannequin type of deal. He didn't seem none to please when she showed upwhich ticked her off since she just did this for him.

"Did Gulum-Ei give up any information on our buyer?" He asked.

"He said Goldenglow was purchased by a 'Karliah'." Da'Virr replied. She looked around her for Brynjolf. He was over by the pots again talking with another thief who seemed displeased as well. Wow, no one was happy today.

"No, it…it can't be." She looked back at Mercer who was now pacing back and forth behind his desk. The fingers of his left hand touching his chin as he looked down. "I haven't heard that name in decades." He looked back at her. "this is grave news indeed, she's someone I hoped to never cross paths with again."

"The reptile told me she was a murder." So that obviously meant you didn't want corss paths with that person. Who likes to cross paths with a murder? Scratch that, she would sound like a hypocrite. Normal people didn't want to cross paths with a murder, her entire family would gladly just for fun. Well Nerana would have someone else restrain them, but after that she would set them on fire or send enough sparks through the body to fry the person's brain.

"Karliah destroyed everything this Guild stood for. She murdered my predecessor in cold blood and betrayed the Guild. After we discovered what she'd done, we spent months trying to track her down, but she just vanished." He put his hands by his sides again and stopped pacing in front of her.

"Why is she back now?"

"We were like partners. I went with her on every heist. We watched each other's backs. I know her techniques, her skills. If she kills me, there'll be no one left that could possibly catch her." Sounded like her perfect role model. "We just need to find her."

"The reptile told me she said, 'Where the end began'." Nice secret code. She liked that too. She needed to come up with her own secret code and use it with Da'Virr. It would going behind Garret's back so much easier. Then again he would just as easily break it and then crack down on them.

He looked thoughtful for a second before speaking again "There's only one place that could be. The place where Gallus… a ruin called Snow Veil Sanctum. We have to go out there before she disappears again."

"We?" She asked as he started to go through the desk and arm up to his already armed body. She didn't like to work with people. They could just as easily ruin the plans you devise and it became harder to make quick thinking decisions when someone was at your back.

"Yes, I'm going with you and together we're going to kill her." He looked up at her. "Your payment for solitude is on the desk in the mug. Prepare yourself and meet me at the ruins as soon as you can. We can't let her slip through our fingers.

**Garret** never saw so much blue in his entire life. Then again he never saw so much red until he went Solitude. Guess it comes with the territory. There was a dining table that stretched through the hall covered in food with a few women and men waiting eagerly he assumed to join the Stormcloaks. Ulfric was at his little throne in the back of the room, sitting in an easy manner. He seemed a little laid back, but then again if someone tried to mess with him he could just shout and fuck someone up. His steward was to his right and his general was to his left, speaking with him.

Putting that aside Garret walked up to the Jarl and introduced himself. The others at the tables tossed him glares, but he ignored them, not really caring if they were waiting. He had to deal with Ulfric and his lack of fucking surveillance. Ulfric looked down at him. He appeared to be in his early forties, but he wasn't sure just how old he was…then again he didn't either. The man had wrinkles from stress around his eyes and crinkling in his forehead. He was obviously stressed out. Who wouldn't be after starting a rebellion within Skyrim.

Garret removed his helmet as both the men looked at him. "Only the foolish or the courageous approach a Jarl without summons." Ulfric spoke.

"Or the severely pissed." Garret grated.

"Do I know you?"

"I believe we were both about to die, but then a dragon decided to eat us instead. A lovely day. Oh, and my two younger sisters were there and didn't see me past someone who is a good four inches shorter than me. I would hope you fucking know me." He heard Galmor Stone-Fist scoffed and approach him but Ulfric signaled him to stand back. "Fucking try Bear Grylls." (I had too. Don't judge me.) Garret snapped at him.

"Ah, yes…" Ulfric spoke.

"I helped your buddy Ralof escape alive. If you want him to vouch for me, well then wait for him."

"I would hope so. He's a damned good man…and a fighter, but he hasn't returned so speak with Galmor. I'm always looking for able fighters. Not everyone can say they made it out of Helgen." Ulfric just as easily dismissed him.

"Um, no. I'm not here to join your little rebellion. My younger brother got snatched by Imperials in your hold, right under nose. The inn isn't even twenty minutes away from this damned place. How do you not have that place guarded?" Ulfric looked at him with wide eyes. "How are you going to defend and reclaim Skyrim when you can't even defend the people and homes in your own hold?"

"Our warriors are out in the field fighting everyday against the Thalmor and Imperial. We don't always have able bodies around to defend the towns outside of Windhelm." Galmor spoke, getting in Garret's face.

"Well if you have people joining this cause form left to right you should have extras to spare for more guard duty. Either that or actually teach them to fight and survive instead of giving them a sword and hoping they don't cut their own dicks off with it. Maybe then you can have less men die on the field and more men to spare." Garret snapped.

"I don't see why you are one to whine like a woman unless you are going to do something about it." Galmor retorted. Whine like a woman? Was he really going there? The one who was trying to imitate a bear was telling him that he was acting like a woman.

"Galmor… calm down." Ulfric spoke. He stood from his seat and stepped down to be at equal ground with Garret. "I am sorry that the Imperials have harmed your own. The Imperials are tricky and are good at hiding. I can't spare to much men in guarding every town we claim under the influence of the Stormcloaks. Are you a fighter?"

"Well of course. I'm not wearing armor made of dragons because it looks fucking pretty." Garret scoffed at the audacity. Most people wouldn't even question him.

"How good of a fighter are you?" Ulfic asked.

"Best known outside of Skyrim. I have just recently came here, but I was a well known mercenary in High Rock and The Alderi Dominion." _Next to my sister, but we won't go there_. Ulfric nodded his head.

"Then why not join, prove yourself strong and loyal and you can train the other men and women yourself so that we have more able bodies to protect your family." Someone is trying to sucker me. "Talk to Galmor, be civil. I would like to have a brother who is willing to fight for his family, for his home."

Garret came up close to Ulfric. "If I join your cause, it wouldn't be to fight for my family or to fight for my home. It would be to teach you idiots how fighting is really done." He looked at Galmor. "Skyrim isn't my home and never was home, and it sure as hell isn't my family's home either. How about that talk now?"

**It** was cold when Nera woke up again and she still had a headache. She was also hanging over a horse that was running, her stomach hitting the saddle at every bump. She also felt like she had something resting on her body, weighing her down. "Slow down, slow down! I'm going to die!" Nera whined.

"You're not going to die, just shut up, we're almost there." Nera grabbed onto the leg of what must be Drayce. Her head was still clearing up, but she couldn't say for sure that everything she heard and saw was legit. The horse began to slow and then suddenly stopped. The weight was lifted before hands grabbed her by the Arch-Mages robes, was she still wearing them? She was yanked upright and almost fell off the horse herself, but the hands held steady and pulled her to the horse to sit on it. Nera looked over at Drayce's unfocused face. She appeared to be wearing a sort of hood and mask, but she could tell it was older sister by the skin tone and her eyes alone. They appeared almost soulless today.

"Where is 'almost here'?" Nera asked.

"Labyrinthian. That is where you wanted to go isn't it? Where this Staff thingy is?" Drayce spoke as she leaned back, one arm still on Nera to keep her balanced and the other reaching behind her into a pouch resting on the horse. Drayce pulled out a red bottle, smaller than the bigger potion bottles and handed it to Nera. "Now drink."

"What is it?" Nera asked.

"Where are we, what is it? Enough of the questions, just drink and shut up while I grab you something to fill your stomach." Drayce growled as she stuffed it into Nera's hand and then reached back again.

"But what is it?" Nera persisted.

"It's a healing potion nimwit. You should know that by now seeing that you make, buy and sell them. I mean come on, would I put some stamina potion in a red bottle? It's more potent so that I could carry them in smaller quantities and not have so much weight on me." Drayce was pulling some bread and sweet rolls from her bag.

"I haven't seen these before? Where do you buy them?"

"Nerana." Drayce warned. Nera removed the cork and chugged back the sugary substance. It was a lot sweeter than a health potion should ever be but she doubted her sister would ever lead her astray even if she pissed her sister off.

She hand the bottle and cork back to Drayce and grabbed the food, placing it on her lap and Drayce's. They were stopped on path going up a hill and she could hear the roaring of a dragon ahead. "So where do you get them?"

"Child, why must you ask so many questions? They don't sell them in Skyrim. I got them in crate loads from a dealer in Elsweyr. Garret brought them down with him so that I didn't have to worry about you snopping and taking them all." Drayce took a piece of the bread and pulled her mask down to eat it.

Nera glared at her sister. "How come you never gave any to me?"

Drayce rolled her eyes as she pulled her mask back over her nose. "So I would run out of them before I needed to and have to go back over ship to get some more. You are a bigger clutz than I will ever be and I go on missions that require stealth and minimum weight. You are a mage. Sneaking isn't something you need to do. Da'Virr has a few of them, but they are for emergencies. You broke all your health potions, another reason why I don't give you any, and I had no other choice but to give you some of my special potions."

Well, Drayce had a point there. Nera didn't mean to break her potion bottles, but just she always got caught up in something that slammed down on her hard and broke her shit. She just didn't have the luck to keep fragile things in her possession. "Alright. I'll let you have that. Now how did you know to come here?"

"You don't need to know why." Drayce answered. She looked past Nera and then around them, including the skies. "Finish your food so we can go."

Nera would let that go for now, but she would bring it back some time soon. Wait…she didn't remember even starting this journey. She remembered complaining about being tired and achey after being given the quest to get the staff. "I don't remember even getting on the horse. Was I that tired?"

"No. I punched you out. You were being annoying. I just threw you over the horse and dumped a thick blanket on you so the snow and wind didn't freeze my baby sister." Drayce said it so nonchalant as if it were no big deal and she looked at Nera with a "what?" face when she saw that Nera had been staring with an open mouth and wide eyes.

"You don't just punch out your baby sister because she is annoying! Drayce, do I have a black eye?" Nera began to feel her face for any soreness.

"Well you did, but the potion took care of that. No bruising. I bet your headache is gone too. No more achey feelings anymore." Now that Drayce brought it up she wasn't in any pain what so ever. Way to change subjects… She would be bringing this Garret next time they were together. He would throw a fit on Drayce hitting her. She was the baby of the family. Well only by a year, but she was still the baby.


End file.
